#adrien's room is a mess but it's calculated mess and he likes it that way
Text
all moved in!
#ts4 gameplay#sims 4 gameplay#postcard legacy challenge#3 posts today !#i didn’t time this right so the next plc post is coming in like 20mins 😞#yay new house!!#the lighting on this lot (+sunblind) is rlly nice :3#adrien's room is a mess but it's calculated mess and he likes it that way#queue#postcard: gen2
268 notes
·
View notes
Text
‘Out Of Character’ 31st December 2022
‘Out Of Character’ master page
Read on AO3
Author’s notes: and this is the end! again, apologies for this ending a month after it should have done, i have definitely learned my lesson and won’t be posting any fics until they’re 100% finished from now on Dx but thank you so much for reading and commenting, i appreciate all the love this fic has been given!!! i do have a few more ml wips in the works so watch this space for more lovesquare shenanigans!!!
As soon as Marinette had arrived at the party - fashionably late at 11pm - and caught sight of Adrien, she had flushed a deep red, grabbed Alya by the wrist and dragged her into the bathroom. They still hadn’t spoken properly since the last larp game, though not for lack of trying on Adrien’s part; he had texted and even called her a few times but she hadn’t replied to anything. He wondered if it was always going to be this awkward or if he would have to back out of d&d and larp to make her less uncomfortable. Sighing heavily, Adrien ran a hand through his hair.
“S’up, dude?”
He turned as Nino stuffed yet another mini sandwich into his mouth and laughed weakly. “You remember at the beginning of the year when you told me about the larp game and I asked you not to tell Alya?”
Nino nodded as he chewed. “Because you didn't want Marinette to come.”
“Yeah… Well, about that…”
In the bathroom, Marinette had her hands on her head. “This is a disaster!”
Alya rolled her eyes. “Calm down, girl. It just means you’ve kissed the same guy twice and you’ve been in love with the guy you hate this entire time.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal, to which Marinette buried her face in her hands and let out a muffled cry. Smirking, Alya patted her friend’s shoulder. “Okay, it is a little bit weird. But I thought you’d decided Adrien was actually a nice person after all. Doesn’t him being Chat Noir make him even better in your books?”
“Alya…” Marinette looked at her friend through her fingers. “I invited him over… and had him in my room… as Chat Noir.”
“You what?! Girl, spill!”
“What do you mean, you visited her in costume? That’s weird as hell, dude!”
Adrien ran a hand down his face as Nino gawked at him and almost forgot about his party food. “Yes, you’re absolutely right, and I probably absolutely definitely shouldn’t have done it. But… she really wanted me to and I just… couldn’t say no. And it was possibly the best night of my life…” He trailed off with a smile as he remembered cosying up with Marinette on her chaise.
“Dude!”
Nino’s gawking turned into a glare and after a moment of confusion Adrien’s eyes went wide in realisation. “No no, not like that! Nothing like that happened! All I meant was… we watched a movie and… and cuddled, and it just felt so natural and so much like… I dunno, like home. She felt like home.”
Alya gave Marinette a sceptical look. “He didn’t make a move on you?”
Groaning at the memory, Marinette leaned her palms on the sink and shook her head. “If anything, I was kind of the one who threw myself at him. I tried to get him to stay but he didn’t wanna do anything when I didn’t know who he was. Like a total gentleman. I don’t know what I would’ve done if he had stayed and I’d found out he was Adrien…”
She looked up in the mirror as Alya snorted. “You are a mess.”
Marinette groaned again and repetitively banged her head on the rim of the sink.
“So, what, you think she’s too weirded out by the situation?” Nino gave Adrien a calculating look as he sipped some mulled wine in what he probably thought was a sophisticated manner.
Shrugging, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t blame her. I mean, I was kind of a jerk at the beginning of the year, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. And-”
Nino held out a finger. “I’mma stop you there, dude. You weren’t a jerk, you were just awkward. It’s not your fault you didn’t know how to interact with people in a normal way.”
“Uh, thanks?”
“Anyway, yeah it’s a bit weird, but like… she likes you, dude. Like, you you. Adrien you. You know what I mean?”
Adrien shook his head, perplexed.
“You started liking him at your birthday party, right?” Alya waggled her eyebrows at Marinette.
“I- did I?”
“Well, you definitely thought he was hot.” Marinette hissed through her teeth as she glared at Alya, making her chuckle heartily. She shook her head then continued. “I also seem to remember you making a comment about how cheerful he was, and how thoughtful his present was.”
“Yes, well,” Marinette mumbled under her breath. She then shook her head, struggling to piece together the events of the year. Trying to reconcile Adrien being the same person as Chat Noir had been a seemingly impossible task over the last two weeks, and his texts and calls only felt like more pressure to figure things out. She had hoped it would be easier to see him by the time this party came about, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of him in his black dress shirt with the collar undone and the sleeves rolled up her head had started spinning.
A pat on her arm made her look up at Alya giving her an encouraging smile. “I’m sure both you and Adrien can figure it out. But you need to actually talk to him to do that.”
Marinette nodded sullenly. She then nearly leapt out of her skin as a loud banging came from the bathroom door. “I’m sorry to interrupt but can you girls come out now? Juleka really needs to pee!”
Alya opened the door to a smiling Rose and flustered Juleka then moved passed them to find Nino. Blushing all the way to her ears, Marinette quickly apologised and ducked out, immediately bumping into Adrien’s chest as he walked towards the front door. He looked down at her in surprise and she felt her heart hammering against her ribcage. She could also feel his heart doing the same, as she had raised her hands to his chest in the collision. Taking a step back, Adrien apologised and looked away, his cheeks turning a light pink. Letting her hands fall to her sides, Marinette tried to decipher her feelings but it felt like a rollercoaster with way too many turns, loops and drops that went way too fast. On the one hand, she had hated Adrien for being aloof and unpleasant for the better part of a year, but on the other she had loved Chat Noir for being bright, carefree and kind and had hoped to find out who he was eventually. And Alya was right, she had started seeing Adrien in a different light in recent months; he had really come out of his shell and shown he was a more cheerful and caring person than she had realised. Surely she would be able to come to terms with them being the same person, right?
She was still in a world of her own when she heard the tail end of his sentence. “… so I’m gonna go…”
“Wait, what?”
He looked down at her with a pained expression. “I don’t want to make you more uncomfortable than I already have.”
Marinette shook her head nervously. “Please don’t go! I don’t want to ruin your night just because I’m rattlebrained.”
Letting out a short laugh, Adrien looked away again. “It’s not your fault, Marinette. I was… it was wrong of me to hide who I really was from you. I was just so desperate to spend time with you and not have you think I was a dickhead. But I guess I really was a dickhead for doing that…”
“Adrien,” Marinette reached a hand out for one of his and squeezed it gently, giving him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, though she could still feel her heart going berserk. “I was the one who invited you over. I accepted that you wanted to be Chat Noir. It was probably weird, yes, but you were definitely not a dickhead. And…” She ducked her head in embarrasment. “I had a wonderful time with you…”
Adrien looked down at their joined hands then back at Marinette’s face and his cheeks deepened in colour. “As did I.” He paused then took a breath as if to say something else but Rose and Juleka walked passed, giving the pair knowing smiles. Rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, Adrien looked embarrassed for a moment, then a thought seemed to cross his mind and he turned back to the passing girls. “Hey Rose, is there somewhere Marinette and I could… uh, talk in private?”
Marinette felt her face burn yet again as Rose beamed at him. “Of course! You can use our bedroom or maybe the balcony. It’s a bit chilly out tonight so no-one else will want to go out there!”
“Hah we don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression so we’ll take the balcony. Thanks, Rose.”
“Don’t forget to kiss at midnight!” She winked at them before grabbing Juleka’s hand and waving at some of their other friends, leaving Adrien and Marinette to laugh nervously to themselves.
The pair collected their jackets, hats, gloves and scarves and a cup of steaming mulled wine each then made their way to the balcony. Marinette’s face was still bright red and had even deepened when she saw Adrien donning the light blue accessories she had made for his birthday. As they both leaned over the balcony’s railing, he smiled affectionately at her which only seemed to make things worse as she looked away over the glittering Paris skyline. Clearing his throat made her look back at him and his breath nearly got caught as he saw the streetlamps sparkle in her eyes. She was stunning. And creative and girly and passionate and unapologetic in who she was. “I’m in love with you.”
Marinette’s eyes went wide. “You- you are?” Adrien nodded simply and watched as she glanced away and a million thoughts seemed to cross her mind. Her expression cleared after a moment and she looked back up at him. “I think… I think I am, too.”
Adrien raised his eyebrows, his heart fluttering in his chest, then smirked. “You’re in love with yourself, too?”
She snorted and gently nudged his arm with her elbow. “Silly cat.” Turning to face him properly, she smiled shyly. “I’m in love with you, Adrien.”
Mirroring her movement, he raised a gloved hand to brush a hair behind her ear and revelled in her blush deepening yet again. She loved him. Marinette loved Adrien. He began to lean down towards her when the music inside quietened and people not just in the apartment started counting down from ten. Turning back to face each other, the pair smiled. They could wait just a few more seconds.
As soon as the chanting got to one and cheers erupted from all around, Adrien leaned down again, though he didn’t need to lean far because Marinette launched up onto her tiptoes to capture his lips with hers. This was an entirely different kiss from their first two. It was confident and fierce and neither of them could stop smiling the whole way through. Almost forgetting about trying not to spill their wine, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette and lifted her up, disbelieving how happy he felt at that moment as she giggled against his mouth.
Marinette pulled away momentarily. “Happy new year, Minou.”
Adrien beamed back at her. “Happy new year, Nettie.”
#hcm92literature#miraculous ladybug#'out of character'#fanfic#au#Marinette Dupain-Cheng#Adrien Agreste#Alya Cesaire#Nino Lahiffe#adrinette#end of work
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Who wants random late night drabble bullshit that's not very good?
"You need to clam do---"
"Calm down? Calm down?!!" His fist collided with the nearest wall, it creaked and cracked, threatening to buckle under the thrown weight of his fist as he looked across the room.
"How can I calm down?! Don't you fucking get it?! I've finally been able to think for myself, *be* myself and I realized it's all shit! It's all shit all the way down! Don't you realize that?!" His voice was running hoarse, it'd almost be intimidating if it wasn't so ragged it was cracking. Maybe that made it worse. Or better. He didn't know. Neither did.
"Every waking moment of my life was a coast! Floating down lazy river, only changing trajectory when I hit a wall! You! You were a wall! He was a wall! She was a wall!! All of it, all of *them* a fucking wall!"
He grabbed at his hair, threatening to rip clumps out by the roots "None of it was real! None of it! None of me was real! It was all so calculated! God, it was like I've been reprogramming myself my whole fucking life! Everyone I ever knew, even when I thought I was being me, when I was told to be myself, it was still what others wanted to see! I don't get it! Am I just fucking broken?! Is any of this even real?! Is that what I'm feeling or what I think I'm supposed to feel?! I don't even know if I'm a real fucking person! I'm made of spare parts and emotions! And don't say you know what it's like because you fucking don't! Nobody does!"
And that's all I got!
It was just random dialogue for an identity crisis. Maybe it's Adrien? I'm not tagging ML for this cause that's such a stretch. Cause I didn't write it with him in mind. Maybe Sentimonster theory? This should pop up in tags regardless cause Tumblrs a mess. It's late. I got work. I'm going to bed.
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Payback
Hey everyone! I’ve been writing this new story for the past couple of days, and am planning to take a break for a while after this. My husband and I are expecting our first child next week and will be focusing on her. For that reason, I decided to give the class some sugar, as we all need some goodness in the world. I’ll be back when things settle down, but until then, Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!
It was just an average conversation. Alya was sitting at her desk before class with Lila since Marinette was late again. It was very pleasant until the italian girl said something… wrong.
“After I saved Jagged’s kitten from being run over by the plane and he wrote that song about me, we kept in touch.” Lila tittered away, without a care. “He ended up mentioning how he wanted a pair of special glasses for his tour, so I made him those Eiffel Tower glasses that he loves so much. Next thing I know, he’s bragging about me to all his friends and they’re all asking me to make things for them too. I ended up making a website and going by the alias MDC. Isn’t that amazing?”
Alya hadn’t had a chance to answer as Marinette came rushing into the room a second before the bell rang and Mme. Bustier began her lesson. Although whatever the teacher was saying was practically ignored by the majority of the class that had heard Lila’s claim.
Because they knew.
They had been there when Marinette had made those glasses for Jagged Stone for the work experience day at Chloe’s family hotel. They knew that Marinette went by the acronym MDC for the initials of her name. Max, Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Kim, and Alya had all helped Marinette set up her website and model her designs a couple months ago, while Lila had been traveling…
She’s a LIAR!! They all thought at once.
During the next break, Alya quickly set up a group chat with everyone but Lila and Marinette.
FoxyJournalist: You all heard that, right? She’s lying about being MDC, but that’s Marinette!
DJTurtle: So not cool, doesn’t she know that we were there? Is this some kind of joke?
MightIllustrator: Don’t think so, she’s still bragging about it back here.
GothicBeauty: @DJTurtle Agreed, not cool.
Rocker’n’Pink: I can’t believe it! I just emailed Prince Ali to see if he knows her, because if Lila’s lying about this…
BigTeddy: …
SmolTeddy: …
TrueBrain: …
Da’Strongest: … Crap
Sk8Grl: … I second that Crap
FoxyJournalist: Emergency meeting at my place tonight! We need to figure all this out!
DJTurtle: Agreed.
TruQueen: We’ll be there too. I don’t like Dupain-Cheng, but I HATE Rossi.
MissRed: I’ll bring snacks.
By the time class started again, everyone had agreed to meet up after school. The hard part, as it turned out, was shaking the liar, who practically latched onto their group and wouldn’t let them be. It was Mylene you finally came up with an idea, mentioning that they were going to the homeless shelter to help feed people and clean the facility. Lila suddenly remembered that she already had plans and couldn’t come help them, before turning to walk home.
Once she was out of earshot, Alix turned to the other girl with a smirk. “Good going, how’d you know that’d work?”
Mylene shrugged. “I was thinking earlier about all the times she talked about charity work but always made excuses to not come with us when we were doing it. I figured she’d do it this time too, and I was right.”
An hour later the entire class; sans Marinette, Lila, and Adrien, who was at a photoshoot, were gathered in the Cesaire apartment. Everyone had their phones or tablets out, looking up everything that Lila had told them since coming to school. And what they found was anything but comforting.
Connection to Jagged Stone due to saving a kitten: lies, according to articles about his one and only pet for the past 17 years, Fang the crocodile.
Connection to Prince Ali via Go-Green charities: lies, according to Prince Ali himself when he responded to Rose’s email, plus he didn’t do green charities, instead focusing on children’s charities.
Secretly dating Adrien: lies, confirmed when Adrien called Nino back during a break and let it slip that Lila was only his friend and that she made him uncomfortable at times because of how clingy she was.
Every single thing they looked up about Lila turned out to be a lie. And although they couldn’t prove it themselves, that likely meant that all of the diseases and injuries that she’d claimed to have were probably fake too. Meaning that they had been buying her lunch and giving her money for charities, and the money was probably going straight into the liar’s pocket.
“By my calculations, when including all the lunches and food we bought for her, money we donated for charities she wasn’t involved in, and tickets for events she attended with us; Lila Rossi has scammed close to €1,000 from our class. All of which we are not likely to get back from her.” Max groused as he typed away on his tablet.
Alix scoffed. “At least all we lost was some money and a bit of our dignity. I’m pretty sure Marinette went through a lot more than us. Heck, that liar tried to convince me last week that Marinette ruined her homework and said ‘if only she understood what it was like for someone to do that to her’ like she was trying to get me to destroy Marinette’s homework as revenge. I didn’t do it, but I let her copy my homework so she wouldn’t lose any points.”
Juleka’s pale complexion went stark white. “She kept telling me how Marinette was only friends with me so she could get close to Luka and make Adrien jealous, and that I was really trusting to let someone like that near my family.”
“When my headphones broke, she told me that she’d seen Marinette messing with them earlier,” Nino told them, his voice laced with guilt as he remembered giving his oldest friend the cold shoulder for days after that.
Alya’s head dropped into her hands as she struggled to hold back tears. “That liar almost had me convinced that Mari was nothing but a jealous bitch who was out to get rid of her since they both had a crush on Adrien. I can’t believe how close I came to buying that bull.”
“And then there’s the expulsion,” Rose added, her voice quivering. “She was accused of stealing, assault, and cheating on that mock exam. Even though Marinette was reinstated, that kind of stuff doesn’t just disappear from someone’s record. What if that keeps her from being accepted into lycee?”
Everyone went pale at that. Although most turned red in the face a moment later from rage for their friend.
“We can’t let her get away with this!” Kim growled as he began pacing the room.
“But is there anything we can really do?” Mylene asked with tears in her eyes.
When the blonde heiress chuckled, sitting off to the side of the room, everyone turned to glare at her, but she wasn’t phased by their looks. “And this is exactly why I decided to come here. None of you have any idea how to deal with someone like Rossi. I, however, have dealt with those types of people multiple times.” The glares ceased, realizing that Chloe was probably right.
“One of the best ways to get back at her, would be to use her own lies against her. Do it in a way that the only way out of it is to admit that she’s a liar. And while we do that, we completely tear down the empire that fake HBIC is trying to build, maybe get her expelled like she tried to do to Dupain-Cheng.”
The class stared at her in surprise, not expecting the former hero to actually be useful in this situation. But what she said…
Alya shook her head in surprise. “I never thought I’d say this, but it sounds like you’re the best option. Please, tell us your plan.”
The smirk Chloe gave them, almost made them feel sorry for what was about to happen to the liar.
~oOo~
The following morning when Lila came to class, she saw everyone fawning over something on their phones or tablets. Curious, she stepped next to Alya and looked over her shoulder to find that she was looking at the MDC website.
She smirked for a second before plastering an appreciative, yet shy grin on her face. “I see you found my website, what do you think of my designs?”
“Gurl, they are gorgeous! I can’t believe you made such intricate clothes and accessories!” Alya gushed as she continued looking through the pictures until she stopped on a design that she had modeled for Marinette, although, like all the other photos, her face wasn’t shown. “And this one here! It’s like a total dedication to Rena Rouge. Make no mistake, Ladybug will always be my favorite, but Rena’s power is really awesome too.”
“I’m glad you like it!” Lila smiled, she was about to go into describing how she was inspired by the design when Alya asked her something surprising.
“Do you think I can have it? Pretty please?”
Lila came up short, not having expected this. “Well, you can just order it from my website-” she began saying, only to stop when Alya’s expression dropped.
“I don’t understand. You always say that if we need anything to just ask you, and you have this dress listed as in stock on your website, it would be nothing for you to just give it to me, right?”
“I-um-”
“And you even told Marinette the other day that if she were a real friend, she wouldn’t mind giving us free pastries whenever we ask, right?”
“R-right! I’m just surprised that you would be so interested in one of my designs. I’ll bring it in tomorrow!”
“Thanks gurl, you're the best.” Alya gushed before giving Lila a hug that actually kind of hurt.
Hurrying back to her seat, Lila resisted the urge to curse as she got onto the MDC website to order and overnight the dress to her apartment. Luckily, the mail normally arrived before she left for school. And doing this would help her convince everyone she was the designer MDC.
~oOo~
Lila’s newest lie about being MDC wasn’t going as planned. Sure, she got a lot of praise and people wearing her designs, but it was costing her. Every time she brought in an item that she’d had to buy and overnight to her apartment to give to one of her classmates, another would practically demand another item that was listed as available on the MDC website. A hat for Alix, a hoodie for Kim, a shirt for Max, a dress for Rose, it went on and on. And when she tried to say that she couldn’t, they would say how Marinette would never do such a thing and then start to question what she told them. This left her no choice but to buy everything they wanted herself and give to them.
Sure, it made her lie all the more believable since she was able to deliver the items they asked for, but it was beginning to clear out her savings. At the rate she was going, she was probably MDC’s best customer.
Then came the day when the MDC website began offering custom orders. Alya asked Marinette for a couple sheets of paper from her sketchbook and a pencil before handing it to Lila. “Gurl, I’ve been wanting you to do something custom for me for weeks, but I wasn’t going to ask since you didn’t have it listed on your website and I didn’t want to take advantage of you. But now, I can tell you exactly what I want and I can even record your process for my blog! Isn’t that awesome?”
Lila gripped the pencil until it nearly snapped. She could barely draw stick figures and she was pretty sure Maribrat knew that, not missing the smirk that the goody-two-shoes was sending her direction. “I would but, oww! My arthritis has been acting up all day and I can barely hold a pencil.” She whimpered pathetically as gingerly gripped her left wrist.
“But that shouldn’t be a problem,” Max spoke up smiling kindly at her. “After all, it’s your left wrist that has arthritis and you’re right handed.”
Shut up, you stupid nerd! She thought, struggling to keep the scowl from her face. “You’re right, but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time to draw something out before class starts.”
“But, Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale have commented on your website how you are really good at doing fast concept drawing for your designs. So, it shouldn’t take you too long to come up with something to start with.” Rose commented, her high voice grating on the liar’s nerves.
She was trying to think of another excuse when Chloe began laughing. “You can all stop the act, I think we’ve played it out long enough.”
To Lila’s surprise, the majority of the class nodded before their eager, friendly faces turned to scowls and angry glares as they looked in her direction. Unsure of what else to do, she started faking tears as she looked around the room. “Why are all of you looking at me like that? I haven’t done anything wrong. Did Marinette say something? You know-”
“Cut the crap, Lila! We did our research weeks ago and figured out you’re nothing but a lying bag of nothing.” Chloe cut her off as she stood from her desk and smiled cruelly at the girl. “You really messed up when you started claiming you were the MDC, the rising star of fashion. Everyone in class knows that’s Marinette.”
Unable to help herself, Lila’s head whipped around in shock to glare at the french-asian girl, sitting shocked, but a little smug at her desk. “Is that what Marinette said? She’s lying!”
Alya scoffed this time. “You know, there may have been a point when we might have believed you, but not this time. We were all there when Mari gave those glasses to Jagged Stone and then had her design his album cover. Max and I helped her set up the MDC website. And Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Kim, Max, and I were the ones that modeled the designs posted on her website.”
Lila glared at her. She knew when the jig was up, and there was no point in wasting her energy on her worthless classmates anymore. Still, she couldn’t help but be angry at them. “Well, you all better have the money to pay me back for all the stuff I bought you! Or else I’ll get all of you in trouble with Mme. Bustier and M. Damocles. If you can’t tell, from the time I got Maribrat expelled, I’ve got them both wrapped around my finger.”
“Actually, you can consider all this repaying us.” Max grinned that annoying, calculating grin at her. “Everything you bought was equal to or of similar value to all the lunches we bought you, tickets for events that we covered, or money we donated to your supposed charities, which I’m 96.8% sure was actually your own bank account.”
She growled at that, about to let out a tirade at all of them when Chloe laughed again, gaining her attention again. “Well, all that was to pay back the class, but you’re still not even with Dupain-Cheng or me. I’m sick of seeing your ugly face and hair-don’t in here every day and decided to do something about it. So, I had Daddy get a hold of the Italian Embassy for a meeting the other day. Imagine how surprised and angry they were when the ambassador’s assistant started talking about how incopitant Ladybug and Chat Noir are, since they couldn’t defeat the akuma that had forced her daughter’s school to close for months.”
Lila’s tan skin paled quickly as her head whipped around the room, looking for an escape, but Ivan and Kim were guarding the door.
“The woman was even more surprised after mentioning which school it was and Daddy told her how it was my school. Then I mentioned a girl that had been out of school for the time the assistant had mentioned, and that she claimed to be in the kingdom of Achu via Embassy funds. The Ambassador wasn’t too happy about what he was hearing and cut the meeting short. Although I did hear her mention that she was planning to speak with the principal and her daughter’s teacher. Speaking of, I wonder why Mme. Bustier is so late for class?
Seconds later, the door Ivan and Kim had been guarding burst open, revealing a very angry Damocles, Mme. Bustier, and a woman that had a strong resemblance to Lila. Without a single word, the woman stomped forward, grabbed Lila by the arm, and began dragging her out of the room. Lila tried to pull free as she pleaded for her mother to listen, but the woman didn’t say a single word as the door closed behind them, leaving a very upset Mme. Bustier standing at the front of the room.
The news quickly spread around school before lunch how Lila had done, and was likely to be expelled for truancy, bullying, lying to the staff, and trying to get Marinette expelled. If that hadn’t been bad enough, an akuma had come fluttering into the courtyard just as the two Rossi’s had been leaving. Lila had pushed her mother away in an effort to catch the akuma, only for a yo-yo to smack her hand to catch it, snapping two of the liar’s fingers in the process.
Seeing that, M. Damocles had no choice but to call the police while Ladybug and Chat Noir stood guard over Lila, with Alya recording everything from the moment she’d seen the akuma entering the courtyard. Lila screamed and raged as the police handcuffed her and took her away. Ladybug recommended using a facility outside of Paris, as they had witnessed her willingly going after an akuma.
The class never saw Lila again, although they did hear that she had been deported back to Italy and was dropped in a high security prison’s deepest, darkest hole to be forgotten by the world after being convicted for aiding a terrorist. Granted, none of them had expected that when they had set out to get even with Lila, but after seeing her willingly go after an akuma for revenge, they were glad she was gone.
The class had also profusely apologized to Marinette for not believing her, as well as keeping her in the dark about their plan to expose Lila. Marinette accepted their apology, but admitted that she had been starting to figure it out after Lila kept ordering from her website and her classmates ended up with the ordered items. Then, when she had mentioned her theory to Adrien, he’d shown her the group chat and admitted that the class had planned a way to confront and expose Lila. So, she decided to trust her friends and let their plan play out, using the money Lila had spent to buy more supplies and make matching ‘thank you’ gifts for her friends.
And that’s it! I hope you all enjoyed this bit of class sugar. With all the salt out there, I really needed something sweet and this seemed like a good way to do it!
Taglist:
@2confused-2doanything @7-sage-7 @aadnrsstar @abrx2002 @awkwardromances @bayball @babylovebug18 @botanicalfoxx @back-cats-and-broken-mirrors @caffeinetheory @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan @city-of-all-tunas @classycollectorreviewworld @corabeth11 @chocolatechipcookiesandcamembert @darkened-flame @delightfulcookiesrecipespizza @fandom-trapped-03 @ghostmaster @iamblinkmarvelarmy @interobanginyourmom @izang @jesussavedevenme @kazedancer @kitten12113 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @lilypotter2018 @lunataravler @maskedpainter @ miraculouslydumb @nerd-nowandforever @ola-is-dead @pandacatxd @plushbookworm @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw @pheonix-biach @raiderofthelostbooks @ramos123 @rowanrouge @rowanyx @ren121 @seesea22 @seraphichana @sashakoi @shypeacekitten @tazer6787 @that-girl-sakea @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @the-smallest-kittenz @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @t1dwarrior-of-earth @ulmban @with-forward-motion @wonderbat91939 @zoiechance
#lila lies#lila salt#lila gets exposed#class redemption#chloe redemption#alya redemption#marinette dupain cheng
715 notes
·
View notes
Text
FACT CHECK
3.6K
Maribat by @ozmav
Of all the investigations Alya had done in the name of journalism, finding out that Chloe Bourgeois and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were dating had been... disheartening.
Lila had told her she noticed the strange behavior of Chloe and Marinette, suspecting that the two were together, but Alya dismissed the idea because Chloe and Marinette dating? This could only be a joke.
But it was when Alya also noticed the behavior of the two girls and decided to investigate, that the truth came out.
Lila was right. She would never doubt her best friend again.
Knowing that the Queen of Hearts and Gremhilde were in a relationship came as a shock to Alya, but knowing the reason for that relationship was indeed sad.
Because fake a relationship to get Adrien's attention? That was beyond pathetic.
Alya knew that Marinette was jealous of Lila for being close to Adrien, and possibly was dating the model in secret - the Italian was being difficult to drop the word, despite the continuous blush being all the confirmation that the journalist needed -, which she feels sorry for the designer.
She also knew that Chloe did not love Adrien, but she was unhappy with the fact that the boy was no longer her private toy and that he had despised her in favor of true friends.
But setting up a crazy plan to get the boy's attention was a new level of insanity for both girls. They needed to understand that no meant no.
It was no surprise to Alya that Chloe acted in retaliation, but Marinette with Chloe? Alya felt sorry for her ex best friend.
Alya hadn't told the class yet because she didn't want to humiliate Marinette in front of everyone, but she told Lila, because she deserved to know the truth.
She was sitting in her place in the classroom, next to Nino and behind Adrien and Lila. Mlle. Bustier had given them free time, as long as they didn't leave their seats and keep the conversation low.
Chloe's snorting laughter echoed through the room from moment to moment, Marinette trying to control the blonde and Sabrina looking like she wanted to fall into a fit of laughter. The three problems of the Mlle. Bustier’s class together.
"It's sad, you know?" Lila sighed at her. She and Adrien facing Alya and Nino's table so they can talk. "They force themselves to act like they're happy just to get attention."
"What do you mean, dudete?" Nino questioned confused.
"It's kind of obvious that they keep doing these things to get their attention." Lila had a sad look in her eyes. "If they weren't so mean to me, I wouldn't mind being friends with them."
Alya felt her heart ache for her best friend. She suffered so much at the hands of the three and yet there she was, wanting to make friends with her bullies.
"You don't have to feel guilty, girl." She squeezed Lila's hand on the table. "They don't deserve your friendship, do they, Adrien?"
The boy had a complicated expression on his face, but he nodded cautiously. "Sure..."
Alya did not understand certain behaviors that Adrien had. Of course, the boy lived for years trapped in the ivory tower that was the Agreste mansion, but she thought that after hanging out with them for so long, he would have come out of his shell, but it looked like she was wrong.
At least, from what Lila said, he was much more open to her when they were alone. She hoped that this would soon change in relation to her friends.
▫▪▪
The next day, she was casually checking her blog, noting the decline in her popularity, before checking OTS-OnTheSpot. The blog that had debuted in the news world, being the rival of Ladyblog.
Alya was increasingly irritated by Ladybug's clear preference for the new blog over Ladyblog. Of course, the person - because nobody knew who it was and Max was unable to track the IP - obviously had better equipment than Alya, who only worked with the phone, but for Ladybug to betray her like that, it had been a slap in the face.
Somehow OTS got the best photos, the best videos, the best interviews, but no one ever got a glimpse of who the journalist was. Not even Chat Noir - she had asked - knew who the person behind the blog was, since he had never been interviewed before.
That was the other problem she had with OTS.
The person clearly focused on all miraculous and non-miraculous heroes, except Chat Noir. In fact, the times the blog touched on the cat hero's name, it was to mock his behavior in the middle of the battle. Not to mention, they were clearly a RoBug shipper - Robin and Ladybug - which, in Alya's opinion, was an insult to the black dots hero.
Everyone knew that LadyNoir was the real couple there. Chat Noir had confirmed in the last interview that Alya got of the hero.
She was wallowing in self-pity when Lila hurried into the classroom, drawing everyone's attention. All but Chloe who was messing with the phone, Nathaniel who drew on the tablet and Sabrina, who wrote something on a notepad. Marinette as always, late.
"Alya!" Lila ran to her. "You will not believe what I just saw."
The girl rose quickly from her chair, her journalistic senses on alert.
“What was that girl? Is it an akuma?”
With that, both Chloe and Adrien turned to the two.
The Italian shook her head in denial.
"No. It's Marinette.” She takes a deep breath, catching her breath. "Marinette was kissing a very scary guy in front of the school."
"WHAT?!" Alya shouted. "Are you sure it was her?"
Lila nodded frantically. "Absolutely sure. When they walked away, I saw her face and I also heard him call her name.”
Alya sat back in her chair in shock. Incredulous that Marinette would do something so dirty just to get attention.
"I think she realized that the plan with Chloe wouldn't work and tried to get attention in another way." Lila sighed. Only Nino and Adrien being able to hear their conversation.
The DJ frowned in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Adrien was pale, but he didn't open his mouth to say anything.
"We found that-"
"MARIN!" Chloe squeaked in the background, running into Marinette's arms.
Alya and Lila were suddenly silent, watching the scene unfold. Alya had a sour taste in her mouth, disgusted by the way Marinette managed to act like nothing was happening. As if she weren't dirty.
"Hey, Coco." The brunette said, hugging Chloe. "Sorry for the delay, I had some things to resolve."
Chloe moved away from her; hands clasped together. "No problem." She smiled. It was rare for the class to see such a sincere smile coming from Chloe. "Come. I want to show you something that Timochi and I found earlier.” And he pulled the girl up the stairs, greeting Sabrina and Nathaniel on the way.
For a moment, Alya considered leaving this problem alone.
Sure, Marinette and Chloe deserved to be exposed to their friends, but technically neither was doing anything wrong. None attacked or did anything to harm Adrien, so no damage was done.
But then Alya remembered the smile that Chloe had shown when she saw Marinette.
This was not a fake or staged smile. That was a genuine and affectionate smile. Then Alya came to the conclusion that Chloe did indeed liked Marinette, while Marinette was only using the blonde as a springboard to reach Adrien.
The journalist might as well have ignored this discovery and let Chloe break her heart, as a vengeance for everything Bourgeois had done against them, but she failed. Alya was a fair girl. She couldn't sleep peacefully knowing that Marinette was playing with someone's feelings.
Even if that someone was Chloe Bourgeois.
She got up from the chair, facing the back of the room and Marinette. Lila had long since moved away to her chair beside Adrien.
Alya was furious.
“Marinette, aren't you ashamed of yourself? Act like nothing is wrong. I didn't know you could be that cold and calculating.” She caught everyone's attention again, especially Marinette.
Marinette sighed, her elbow resting on the table, she laid her head on her palm. There was an air of boredom around her. Chloe, Sabrina and Nathaniel with unimpressed looks on their faces.
“What did I do this time, Alya? I knocked Lila down the stairs? I hit Lila with a piece of wood? I stole Lila's ideas again?” The disinterested tone irritated the journalist even more.
"No, although all the statements are real, I am not talking about that." Alya spat. "I'm talking about you being a fake and dirty person, who's using Chloe in your sordid little game."
Everyone in the classroom began to whisper fervently, curious about the newest drama in the class.
"What?!" Chloe said without a voice. The expression on the blonde's face was pure disbelief.
Marinette raised an eyebrow, moving from her relaxed posture to a stiff one.
"What are you accusing me of this time, Alya?"
"I'm talking about you and Chloe dating and you cheating on her with someone in front of the school!" Alya shouted angrily.
Marinette whistled, unimpressed.
"I still don't know what you're talking about."
“I know everything, Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Don't you dare deny it!” The girl sidestepped Nino's hand, who was trying to calm his girlfriend. "I know about your silly plan to pretend to be dating Chloe just to get Adrien's attention and that Chloe likes you!"
Marinette stared at Alya without reaction and Alya celebrated it, believing she had won the argument.
That, of course, until Chloe, Marinette, Sabrina, and Nathaniel fell into a fit of violent laughter. Scaring all the students and leaving Alya surprised.
"What are you laughing at?!" Lila stood up to defend Alya. "It is true! We know everything!”
Sabrina was the first to compose herself, wiping away the tears that had escaped by the force of laughter. "Really? What else do you know?”
"I don't understand what you're laughing at!" Alya snarled, before turning to Chloe. “You should be thanking us for exposing Marinette. Hello, is she cheating on you!?”
"Alya, dear and innocent, Alya." Nathaniel sighed. Some laughter still escaping. "Where did you get that Chloe and Marinette are dating each other?"
Alya snorted indignantly at the mockery. "What are you talking about? Lila-“
“Oh, of course. Lila.” Chloe rolled her eyes. "The most reliable source of news you can find." The acidity in the words did not go unnoticed by anyone.
"Hey!" Coming from offended Lila.
"Sure, you're not wrong to assume that Chloe and I had something, since well, we dated for a while." Marinette started.
“Aha! So, you assume you were in a relationship!” Alya pointed.
Marinette raises an eyebrow. "Everyone here knows that, Alya." She sighed tiredly. "Chloe and I dated for a while at Collège, but we broke up before Lycée."
"What...?!" Alya murmured. "But you hated each other!"
"... They are telling the truth, Alya." Nino looked away, intimidated by Alya's anger. “You and Lila didn't know that because you entered Dupont at the Lycée, but the rest we did. I think Adrien, too, since Chloe and he are childhood friends.”
“Okay, so, you guys dated. But how do you explain this sudden approach now? You obviously hated each other.” Alya insisted.
Chloe snorted impatiently, maybe even a little irritated by Alya's attitude.
“It's called maturing, Alya. Do you know what is this?" The blonde crossed her arms. “Marin and I talked and came to the conclusion that we still like each other enough to become friends. That fighting wasn't getting us anywhere.”
“It still doesn't explain why you are so lovey-dovey. Let's be rational here, this love is at least suspect.” Lila pointed. There was a calculating air around her.
"Friendships are different for everyone, Liela." Marinette replied dryly. “I was never a person to curb my feelings whatever they are. I like to show my friends how much I appreciate them and they do the same for me because that's how friendship is. The support is mutual.”
"But waiting for you to understand this can be too much, since you probably don't know what it is like to have feelings other than pride, envy and dislike." Chloe waved her hand dismissively.
Lila's eyes flashed dangerously, before changing to a painful expression. The crocodile tears running down her cheeks.
“Why are you like that, Chloe? I tried my best to be friends with you, but you seem to hate me!” She sniffed and Alya was next to the girl, trying to comfort her. "If I were that bad, I would have already exposed your plan to get Adrien's attention, since you and Marinette are obsessed with him-" She brought her hands to her mouth, an expression of regret on her face. “I shouldn't have said that. I'm so sorry!" She went back to 'crying'.
Everyone in the room turned to look at Adrien's expression, who seemed lost. Eyes wide, mouth open. He looked in Marinette's direction as if trying to assemble a 500-piece puzzle.
Chloe murmured an 'oh please' tired of all the drama. Marinette didn't seem at all shaken by being exposed in front of the boy she loved. Nathaniel and Sabrina were just enjoying the show, while eating the macaroons that Marinette had brought.
"You don't have to apologize, Lila." Marinette replied calmly, making Lila swallow the fake tears and look at the girl. She realized that her attack had no desired effect. "My feelings for Adrien died the day he asked me to take the high road and let you lie." She looked at the model who looked chastened, before turning back to Lila. "I understood what he meant by that, but the fact that he prioritized your feelings over mine, killed any traces of love I had for him."
Alya gasped in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Lila's eyes widened in panic. "Is nothing-"
"Oh, that's right." Marinette shook her head condescendingly. “You still believe that everything Lila says is true. Even the most absurd things.”
"Again with that story, Marinette?!" Kim complained angrily. "We know you made this up because you were jealous of Lila."
Nathaniel made a confused sound. "Why would Marinette be jealous of Lila?"
"Because Lila and Adrien are dating!" Alya screamed at the boy's lack of awareness.
“Alya! This was supposed to be a secret!” Lila hid her face with her hands.
"WHAT?!" Adrien got up from the chair surprised by the new information. "We aren’t-"
"... But Marin, haven't you been dating Damian since half of Lycée's first year?" Sabrina asked confused.
Marinette sighed at the whole situation.
"I am. But it seems that people still live in the past.”
"You don't have to lie to us just because you're ashamed, Marinette." Lila said sweetly. "We don't judge anyone here."
Chloe got up from her chair, clapping her hands on the table. "OK, that's it." She picked up the phone and dialed someone, everyone froze thinking she was calling the mayor. “Timo, please come and get us. I'm sick of having to share the same air as a bunch of imbeciles.” The person on the other end seemed to agree, because soon Chloe hung up and picked up her things from the table.
Marinette, Sabrina and Nathaniel soon following the blonde's example.
Sabrina had a thick folder in her hand, where it dropped heavily on Max's table. Chloe, on the other hand, left a pile of paper on Lila's and Nathaniel's on Alya's. Marinette came down the stairs in calm steps. Never failing to face the two girls.
“At Max's desk is a compilation of all Lila's lies. We managed to put this together in less than two hours, as her lies are not really good.” She started. Lila swallowing hard behind Alya. "At Lila's table and yours, orders to cease and desist on behalf of Prince Ali, Jagged, Clara, XY, Bruce Wayne, Style Queen and of course, Ladybug."
"WHAT?!" Lila and Alya shouted together.
Marinette didn't even blink at their reaction.
"I didn't intend to do anything against you, as we are in Lycée's senior year and I would finally be free of your mental games, Lila." She looked at the Italian. “But today you really pissed me off. Because in addition to accusing me of plotting to gain Adrien's attention, you accused me of being unfaithful and that is something I do not admit.”
"Dudete, don't you think you're being a little extreme?" Nino tried to ease the situation with Marinette.
The girl snorted in mockery, going back down the stairs, towards the door. And at the door, there was an unknown and scary-looking boy standing against the wood.
"Think on the bright side Nino: at least this way, your girlfriend will learn to check the facts first, before posting on her failed blog and Lila will learn to keep her lying tongue in her mouth."
Alya snarled in anger.
"And how do we know it is not a trick?"
Marinette stopped beside the boy, her hand resting on his broad chest and turned to Alya.
"Now Alya, just a search on google refutes all the bullshit that Lila has been spitting on you." She raised her eyebrow and the girl soon did as she was told, growing pale with every second she remained looking at the screen. “See how easy it is to check the facts? The internet nowadays, huh. Who knew?” She laughed as if she had told a very funny joke.
Adrien frowned at the girl's behavior, disappointed that she had done that. He thought they were in this together, but apparently, he was alone.
"Marinette-" The blonde tried to speak.
“Oh! I remembered something." She hit her fist against her open palm. "Lila, there are police and immigration agents waiting for you at the school door."
The entire class rose from their seats, still shaken by Marinette's revelations and Markov's confirmation that, yes, Lila was a dirty liar.
"... What?" Lila murmured weakly. It seemed that all the blood had left the Italian's body so pale she was.
"Did you think that willingly helping an emotional terrorist would not have consequences, Lila?" Marinette tilted her head innocently. "Wow. You are really deluded.” She hissed in shock.
The Italian fell without reaction to the floor. She had been defeated at her own game.
"Emotional terrorist...?" Adrien gasped. "Hawkmoth?! Was Lila helping Hawkmoth?”
“Yeap. We have evidence in videos, photos and audios. Not to mention that he admitted earlier today when the heroes invaded his operational base.” Marinette waved excitedly.
Adrien froze at the information. "But, but-"
"How do you know all this?!" Alya demanded.
“Didn't you know, Alya? I am OTS.” Marinette replied cynically, a bad smile on her face. "Ladybug gave an exclusive interview to my blog that must have aired two minutes ago."
Everyone was quick to pick up their tablets or phones to do what Marinette had said.
"You-you-" The journalist stuttered without knowing how to react.
“Now I have to go and let the law enforcement officers do their job. Bye!" She waved as she followed the boy from before, away from the classroom.
It was only when the officers entered the classroom to drag Lila out, that Alya realized what she had done and said.
She was a terrible journalist.
BONUS:
"... Cheers to the miraculous team, Robin, Red Robin, Super Boy and Spoiler!" The group of friends shouted, pounding the crystal glasses against each other.
“Another cheers for Lila Rossi having her ass delivered!” Chloe shouted excitedly, making friends laugh and accompany her.
"Today was a day of victory so let's celebrate as long as we can." Marc said snuggling up to Nathaniel who was almost dozing, despite all the noise.
"You had to see Alya's face when we threw the facts in her face." Sabrina hugged Stephanie, a little drunk on champagne.
"We saw it, Rina." The blonde replied, amused by the girl's behavior. "Timbers installed hidden cameras around the classroom for that purpose."
"What I thank my love for." Chloe told the boy, who was hugging her. "If it weren't for you, we would only relive that moment in memories."
"You're welcome Queenie." Tim kissed the girl's cheek affectionately.
"When are we going to visit Chat Noir, Hime?" Kagami asked Marinette. The two were curled together, with Damian on Marinette's back and Kagami between her legs.
"It would be a good idea for us to do this as soon as possible, so that he doesn't have time to use the ring for something bad." Damian kissed Marinette's head while his arms held Kagami against them. "Who knows what's going on in that boy's head."
Marinette sighed thoughtfully. Half melted between her lovers. "Tonight, we will approach Adrien Agreste."
"I hope he doesn't throw a tantrum." Jon groaned from where he was lying with Luka. "I don't have the patience to deal with him."
"I think he will be too distracted by his mother's return to react negatively." Luka murmured, another who was almost asleep. “Adrien may have a closed mind in some ways, but he is not a bad kid. He just needs someone to guide him on the right path.”
"I hope Emillie is that someone." Nathaniel replied sleepily.
All of them agreeing with the boy.
[tag list]
@saays-bitch @xxmdsxx @nicknnie @iamablinkmarvelarmy @damianette-is-life
#maribat#kagadaminette#ml x dc#chlotim#luka x jon#stephanie x sabrina#ml salt#adrien salt#lila salt#lila bashing#alya salt#nathmarc
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
Top 10 Ninos in Miraculous Ladybug
Hey Everyone!
Ever since Stormy Weather, Miraculous Ladybug fans around the world have always wondered who the best Nino is. However everyone knows Top 10 list are 10x better than that so we’re doing this instead.
In this list, we used a complex equation to calculate which Nino has the greatest combination of friendliness, superheroics, musical ability, directorial inability, loyalty, and that special something that makes them Nino.
This list had a lot of competition, so don’t feel too bad if your favorite Nino didn’t make this particular list! Plus if you guys reblog this with an essay telling me how wrong I am, the tumblr algorithm will actually promote the post!
10. Shell Shock
In 10th place, we have the superhero turned supervillain Shell Shock! Now although you wouldn’t think he has the qualities of being a Nino, considering how betraying your allies isn’t very friendly, but in his defense akumatizations are no ones fault but Hawkmoth’s.
Plus this betrayal was the impetus for the Nino Retrieval Arc, which is fondly remembered as having some of the best fights in the show, including the very famous scene where the random citizens in a window drop their training weights and unleash their true power so they can restrain him and 2 other akumatized superheroes with little to no effort.
But the real reason he’s so low is because he’s just Carapace but Red, and turtles aren’t red. That’s silly. Shell Shock is just so silly
9. XY (Ripping off Luka)
On the surface, XY appears to be a talentless hack who clearly doesn’t care about music and is only in it for the money, and he is. But in his defense it’s also pretty clear the dude is obviously a product of his environment since his Dad is clearly the mastermind and even he doesn’t seem to think very much of XY.
Honestly the dude ought to become a better person and one of the best ways to change is to stop emulating his father and find better role models. So if he’s ripping off Kitty Section, specifically Luka, then maybe this could be the first step in the journey to becoming a better person like Luka.
Anyways, XY makes number 9 because of his potential
8. The Right Half of Oblivio
Alright let’s address the elephant in the room about Super Penguino. It’s pretty obviously a stand in for something else, but the show couldn’t exactly say it explicitly since it is a kid’s show after all.
Super Penguino represents how Alya and Nino are mobile gamers.
Honestly considering that their best friends are console gamers, it makes sense that they may try to hide their hobbies, and as a console gamer myself, I agree. They should be ashamed.
But then again I thought it was a cool episode so it’s number 8 even though we barely see Nino until like the last minute
7. Boy in Spanish
Niño takes the number 7 spot on this list for obvious reasons
6. Silencer
Silencer may be a supervillain, but he’s more of an anti villain if we are being honest. Like honestly he was only trying to steal voices from bad people like XY (Who stole his music and insulted Marinette/his friends), Bob Roth (Who encouraged XY to do that and he is literally everything wrong with the music industry), The Mayor (Who is notoriously corrupt), and Ladybug (Remember when she killed Chat Noir during Hero’s Day on live TV?).
Plus he was only really doing this to help his friends, which is pretty Pog.
Actually the only reason he isn’t higher is because he tries to silence people and that was literally the same thing the bad guys did in Footloose so not very Nino-like if you ask me
5. Bubbler
The Bubbler was literally only akumatized so he could throw his bro a party, and isn’t that the most Nino-like reason ever? Plus it was because of Gabriel Agreste, so can you really blame him?
Although we have to dock points off because he did send all the adults to the sky which is pretty messed up considering I am technically an adult now. Honestly the Bubbler sounded a lot more reasonable when I watched the episode in high school
4. Carapace
Taking number 4 on the list is everyone’s favorite Captain America Ripoff.
And his debut was really something! He actually 1v1ed an akuma without superpowers! He clearly took Ladybug’s advice to heart when she told him that “When you're facing a supervillain, strength doesn't make a difference. Courage and determination do.”
Plus his power is to protect his friends, and can you tell me a more Nino-like power than that? And his transformation sequence and music is a headbanger so it’s pretty obvious to tell that Nino’s under that hood.
Also he’s green. That’s the color turtles are supposed to be.
3. Viperion
Viperion barely edges out Carapace on the list since Viperion doesn’t need to protect his friends from danger. Instead, Viperion can stop the danger before it happens! It’s like Minority Report, and we all know how good of an idea it was in that movie!
It kinda sucks we didn’t get to see more of him in his debut episode, since Ladybug had to sideline Luka at first since she said “When you're dealing with a supervillain, it's better to have a partner with superpowers.” Although he was a hard carry once he did get superpowers! Literally Hawkmoth and Ladybug consider him the biggest threat when facing a group of heroes!
And like any good Nino transformation, the music is a bop, and having an instrument as a weapon really helps on the Nino ranking
2. Luka
The caring older brother who moonlights as a temporary Reptile Hero, Luka isn’t the only musically inclined friend of Adrien who had a crush on Marinette!
Honestly if you didn’t know any better you might think that Luka is actually Nino!
Luka is in almost everyway the best Nino, and he was a very close second to first. Honestly I had some trouble deciding between the two of them, but I think the number 1 pick is pretty unanimous in everyone’s minds
Before we get to the number one pick, let’s take a look at some honorable mentions
Nino Rota: An famous Italian composer whose work includes the Godfather Trilogy’s Score. However the fact he does not appear in Miraculous Ladybug disqualifies him from the top 10.
Saint Nino: Honestly idk anything about her but she was a Saint so I guess she was important. However the fact she does not appear in Miraculous Ladybug disqualifies her from the top 10.
Nino from Fire Emblem 7: She’s doing her best. However the fact she cannot read disqualifies her from the top 10.
1. El Niño
El Niño is a weather phenomena that occurs about every four years and is associated with a warm band of water in the Pacific Ocean which is accompanied by high air pressures in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the Easter Pacific.
It is also the first thing that comes up in Google when you look up Nino.
Honestly I debated putting it this high up on the list, but Nat Geo told me the El Niño in 2016 was associated with coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, severe droughts in Africa, South America and parts of the Pacific and southeast Asia, and wildfires in Indonesia and Canada. I don’t live in any of those areas but El Niño scares me and for my own safety I decided to appease it by giving it the number 1 spot in this list.
So did any of our choices surprise you? Make sure to leave a like and comment below your favorite Nino!
#The Truth#ml#miraculous ladybug#shell shock#xy#oblivio#Boy in Spanish#silencer#the bubbler#carapace#viperion#luka couffaine
421 notes
·
View notes
Text
Nannyette
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Chapter 3 – Lions and Robins and Ladybugs, Oh My
“The lions! This is where the lions are! I love the lions. I love their hair. It goes out everywhere. I wanna make my hair look like a lion.” Mar’i babbled loudly and happily as she pulled Marinette towards the lion exhibit. “Do you think we’ll see them? I hope we see them. They’re my favorite.”
“I thought the otters were your favorite?” Marinette commented with a smile. Almost every animal they’d seen had been Mar’i’s ‘favorite’ so far. They were enjoying a rare warm day and decided to celebrate by visiting the Gotham City Zoo before the next cold front blew through that night.
“I LOVE otters. They’re so cute and fluffy! But I love lions too. They’re my favorite favorite.” She rattled off, still pulling Marinette with her.
They had just made it to the Plexiglas enclosure for viewing the lions when they heard screaming. Marinette automatically picked up Mar’i and held her close. She turned toward the door and said loudly, “I wish someone would investigate and see what is going on for me,” hoping Tikki would pick up on the hint. She then turned back to Mar’i. “Let’s stay hidden in here until we figure out what is going on.”
They waited there for a few minutes observing people running scared and looking over their shoulders in both directions, almost like they were all running from something. Soon, Marinette saw Tikki flying back to her. She nodded subtly to Tikki and brushed Mar’i’s hair out of her face. “Hey, sweetie, do you see any lions or are they hiding too?” When Mar’i turned to the enclosure, Marinette leaned away, trying to put as much space as she could between Mar’i and Tikki, without letting go of Mar’i.
Tikki flew to Marinette’s ear and whispered quietly enough for Mar’i not to hear her. “It’s some guy wearing a black mask. He has a bunch of henchmen working their way through the zoo. They are working in teams to gather people. There are two teams headed this way from opposite sides.”
“Damn it,” Marinette mumbled under her breath. “Why does everyone try to kill us?” They were in the worst part of the zoo for this. They were in a section that had Plexiglas enclosures on either side of the walkways. There was no place to hide. No getting off the path to hide Mar’i. No sneaking into an enclosure to hide Mar’i. And with them approaching from both sides, there was no outrunning them. Marinette looked around her in a panic, frantically looking for anything she could use. She could turn into Ladybug but that was a last resort, a Mar’i-is-about-to-get-hurt-resort.
She glanced out of the observation room and stopped. The lemur observation room was directly across the walkway. The rooms were really tall, to ensure that the lemurs couldn’t jump over them. So tall, nobody could climb up there from the pathway. So tall, nobody could see the rooves from the pathway. “You have to fly.” She told Mar’i suddenly. “I need you to fly up on the lemur roof and lay on it. Stay on the roof and away from the edges. Do not move from the roof. Do not stand. Do not do anything but lay in the middle until you hear your Dad’s voice. Do you understand me? We’ll wait until nobody is looking. Now, if we could just get someone to mess with the cameras on this section….”
Mar’i nodded at her, a look of fear appearing in her eyes, missing the red blur that flew to the camera pointed to their area. “It will be okay, Mar’i. I promise you that, okay? You lay down on the roof and stay there until you hear your Dad’s… or Tim’s… or your grandfather’s? voice. Okay? I need you to do it now. Do not make any noise no matter what you hear unless it is your Dad’s or Tim’s voice okay?” Mar’i nodded again. “Okay. I love you, sweetie. You’re going to be okay, okay? I’m going to lead them away so they won’t look around here and your Daddy can come get you, okay? And your Dad will come for you in no time.” Marinette gave her a tight hug before holding her out. “Now go.”
Mar’i nodded and floated up to the roof. She backed away from the edge and laid down on the roof, curled in a ball, trying not to cry. As soon as she couldn’t see Mar’i and it looked like she was staying away from the edge, Marinette let out a breath and whispered “Good girl”. She paused to send Dick and Kori a text message letting them know what was going on and where she was having Mar’i hide, before she chose a pathway and started running.
She didn’t get very far before she came across the first set of henchmen. There were unconscious bodies strewn across the path behind them. So, they weren’t taking prisoners, they were just knocking people out… or killing them and robbing them, if the outturned pockets and open purses meant anything.
As soon as they saw her they started laughing. They didn’t expect her to continue running toward them. She motioned to kick their legs out from under the first one. When he bent down with a leer to grab her before she could reach him, Marinette jumped, delivering a flying kick that broke his jaw, knocking him over into the other henchman. She then turned back in the other direction. She needed to get the other set of henchmen away from Mar’i’s hiding spot.
She just got to the lion and lemur enclosures when she saw them. She stopped running and discretely checked to make sure Mar’i couldn’t be seen. She made sure they saw her before turning around and running back toward the henchmen she had just knocked down. As she had hoped the new henchmen started running after her too, away from Mar’i.
She slowed to a stop once she reached the original henchman. She lowered herself into a fighting position, trying to calculate if she could get past him and lead them even further away. There was a chance, slim, but she just needed a little bit of luck to pull it off. Luckily, she knew the embodiment of luck.
Marinette bounced from foot to foot like she was trying to come up with a plan, really she was analyzing the first henchman. When she was ready, she started running toward him. She motioned to sweep his feet again. As she expected, he braced himself for a high attack. Instead, she slid between his legs. As soon as she was on the other side of him, she started running again. She checked over her shoulder to make sure the three were following her. When they started lagging behind, she slowed down and pretended to consider her options, even though there were none. She didn’t want to risk them losing interest and turning back.
After a few seconds, she came to a fork in the path… and more henchmen. It was now five to one and that one hadn’t fought, beyond playful sparring matches with Adrien, in years. She looked around for a way to escape or get past the new henchmen. She could try the same maneuver again but… fuck it. It worked twice, third time’s the charm right? No, wait… that didn’t work in her favor in this instance. Three times lucky? That worked in her favor didn’t it? Sure, that’s what she was going with.
She ran full speed at the henchman on the left, motioning to kick his legs out from under him. He hunched down to block her way and Marinette jumped to go over him again. Unfortunately, the henchman on the right had his partner’s back and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Marinette kicked the head of the left henchman since she was already in a position to, knocking him out. She used that leverage to add force to her throat punch to the right henchman.
He dropped her instantly, bringing his hands to his throat. She hit the ground in a crouch and pushed off to start running again but instead saw a blinding light followed immediately by the blurry ground rushing up toward her. She landed roughly on her hands and knees. She tried shaking her head to clear it, but that just made her head hurt more. She pushed back to kneeling as one of the henchmen walked in front of her. He swung a bat around saying something to her that she couldn’t quite make out.
Another henchman walked in front from the other side. He grinned maniacally at her and raised his foot to kick her in the face. Marinette didn’t register his foot approaching until it was a few centimeters from her face. She summoned the last of her strength to twist out of the way and kick up, meeting the most sensitive part she could reach with enough force that it was unlikely he would ever be able to have children. With that energy spent, she collapsed to the ground.
She tried to brace herself for the oncoming beating, but instead heard distant grunts and the distinct sound of punches landing. She wanted to open her eyes but her body was fighting her. When she finally felt someone’s hand meet her, it was gentle and urgent feeling. “Marinette! Marinette, are you okay? Marinette open your eyes! Please!” The voice sounded pleading and familiar.
She finally opened her eyes and saw white. She scrunched her face in confusion. She tried to refocus her eyes and took in the person’s unfamiliar full face. It was a mask she realized as she studied the face longer. It was Red Robin kneeling over her. She tried to look around for Nightwing. “Dick,” she gasped out. “Mar’i.”
“The girl you were babysitting? We know about her. My colleague is looking for her right now.” Red Robin assured her.
Marinette looked up at him, the world starting to settle a bit and make sense again, “Her dad?” she asked quietly. “I told her to only come out for her dad or you or Bruce.”
Red Robin gaped at her. “You…”
“Have a functioning brain cell?” She slurred slightly. “Yes, yes I do. It seems a little slow right now…” She tried to look around to see who was nearby to overhear them and relaxed slightly when she saw they were alone, police having already dragged the henchmen away. “Well maybe I don’t or I wouldn’t have outed myself as knowing just now. But, I normally have a functioning brain.”
“And a concussion.” Red Robin commented dryly.
“Ugh, I hate concussions. They last forever.” She clumsily tried to sit up and turn toward the direction Mar’i was hiding, squinting her eyes to see if she could see him yet.
Tim grabbed her to give her support, cradling her between his knees. “Easy, easy. Try moving slower,” He cautioned her. “I can hear him over the coms,” Red Robin told her quietly. “He has her and she’s safe.” Marinette let out a quiet sigh of relief. “A little scared but safe.”
“Thank God.” Marinette smiled closing her eyes and laying her head on his chest.
“Hey, no. None of that. You have to stay awake for me, okay?” Red Robin’s voice suddenly became strained. “We’re going to get you to a hospital and you can fall asleep there.”
“Liar,” she mumbled. “They won’t let me sleep either, not for a long time.”
Red Robin chuckled lightly. “You’re right. But humor me and talk to me. I like hearing your voice so it’s win/win for me.”
“I like your voice, you should talk to me and I can fall asleep to the sound. Win/win for me.” She retorted.
“Not if you fall into a coma. Come on, let me see your beautiful, blue eyes. I like looking into your eyes.” Red Robin gently begged her.
“You first,” she scoffed. She opened her eyes and shifted her eyes around them, remembering where they were. “Ignore that. Don’t show me right now.”
“Later, I promise.” He assured her, hugging her closer to his chest. He gently brushed her hair out of her face.
She smiled sleepily, still struggling to keep her eyes open. Her eyes popped open wide a few seconds later when she heard Mar’i scream her name. Marinette blinked a few times and turned her head in her direction. “Marinette! No, you got hurt! Marinette! Is this because of me?”
“No! I’m okay, sweetie.” She tried to smile reassuringly. “I just… fell for Red Robin’s good looks again.” Mar’i giggled in her father’s arms.
“Hey, why are you giggling at that?” Red Robin pretended to be upset. “That was a serious comment.” Mar’i giggled even harder. “That’s it, you’re grounded young lady. Go home right now.” Mar’i only laughed harder at that, nearly falling out of her father’s arms.
“You heard him, it’s home for you. Or maybe we can take you to your Grandpa Alfred, huh? Let’s go.” Nightwing said turning her away from Marinette.
“She does that a lot,” Mar’i giggled.
“Does she now?” Dick asked with an amused tone, but his eyes stayed sharp. He gave Red Robin a concerned, questioning look, darting his eyes to Marinette. He only continued walking away with Mar’i after Red Robin nodded to let him know he could handle talking care of Marinette by himself.
“And let’s get you to the ambulance, huh?” Tim gave her a gentle smile as he carefully picked her up to carry her to the ambulance.
He gripped her tighter into his chest when she laid her head on his shoulder and let out a relieved sigh. “She’s safe.” She slurred sleepily. “She’ll be okay.”
“You both will be.” Tim assured her, kissing the top of her head. “As long as you stay awake. Maybe while you are awake you can tell me why you decided to come here without me? I like animals, too.” He pretended to pout. “Enjoyable things to see, delicious food, did I mention the fries here are amazing? Spectacular company... Sounds like a perfect day.”
Marinette giggled into his shoulder then groaned at the pain the vibrations caused in her head. “I’ll make sure to invite you next time.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he whispered as he handed her off to the EMTs. His fingers itched to keep holding her hand, but it would be dangerous for Red Robin to take too strong of an interest in one particular victim. He had to settle for watching them take care of her in his peripheral vision and praying everything would be okay. He knew, logically, that she would be, but that didn’t stop him from worrying until he could see her brilliant, radiant smile again.
Chapter 4
Tags:
@timari-month-event, @ichigorose @stainedglassm
240 notes
·
View notes
Text
Compatible
Summary:
When Ladybug brings some of the old magazines she used to read as a teenager to a sleepover with Chat Noir, they end up doing an 'Adrien Agreste compatibility test', something that she has done more than once as a teenager.
There's no way her partner could beat her at it and get a higher score than her.
No way.
Read it on AO3
Ladynoir identity reveal commission for @multibug ♥ | Donation drive @mlbforblm
Thank you so much again for beta-reading this, @rosekasa ♥
The proceeds of this commission go to Color of Change, a racial justice organisation centered on the Black Lives Matter movement!
You can learn more about MLB for BLM & the different contributors on the blog, and you can view info for commissioning me for art or fics here!
You’re of course very welcome to commission any of our talented contributors and donate if you can! Otherwise you can help us to spread the word by reblogging the different posts from the blog! Thanks for your help ♥🤜🤛
* * * * *
Ladybug looked around the room at the mess she and Chat Noir had left from the evening before. Scattered UNO cards on the table, empty glasses and half empty bottles of wine and cider, a plate with only three or four cookies left, and abandoned game controllers on ottomans in front of the small TV.
They always left a mess when they had a sleepover together; always because they went to bed way too late and were too tired to clean it all.
She loved that.
She turned her head to look at her partner half-sitting beside her on the sofa bed. The sheets were pulled up his waist, and he was wearing a dark grey t-shirt v-neck as a pajama that suited him particularly well. She herself was wearing a red with tiny black polka-dots tank top, and a pair of small black pajama shorts.
Chat Noir was smiling at whatever he was reading on his phone. Ladybug propped her head on his shoulder, but kept her gaze away from the device.
“What are you looking at?”
He kept silent a few seconds, still grinning, before answering. “I told my best friend about what my supervisor said to me yesterday. He’s telling me he’s gonna buy an electric racket for mosquitoes and slap him with it.”
Ladybug chuckled. “I like your friend.”
Chat Noir was doing an internship somewhere in the city, and while it seemed like he enjoyed it, his supervisor sounded everything but kind to him. Something Ladybug couldn’t understand, knowing how nice her partner was.
“I thought you would,” he replied, turning his phone off and putting it on the nightstand.
After defeating Hawkmoth four years ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir had both taken a break to focus on their studies. He had been somewhere abroad from what she gathered; she had studied in another city. Now they were both back in Paris and had been for a year; a new threat needing the heroes had arisen.
It had been good to see her partner and best friend again after all this time, a deliverance of sorts. Being older opened up to a lot more freedom than they had as young teenagers: they were more lenient regarding their identities, for one. Ladybug even offered more than once to reveal each other, but Chat Noir told her he was not quite ready yet. It had surprised her a lot, but if he needed time, she would let him take it.
Still, it hadn’t kept them from getting even closer than they used to be.
Ladybug wished they could be even closer. She suspected that Chat Noir probably did, too, yet neither of them pushed for it. The very comfortable friendship they had now established was both a blessing and a curse in that regard.
While it was easier for her to stay at her parent’s house for now, Chat Noir had had a new personal studio. It wasn’t big; just the kind of place you’d expect from any average student having to rent a far too expensive place for what it was, courtesy of living in Paris—but it was enough. It was great to plot against their enemy… or for sleepovers, a habit they had taken soon after he got it.
Chat Noir looked at the pile of old magazines she had brought—they were the ones she read as a teenager, the ones she gossiped about with Alya during their sleepovers. She had thought it could be fun to try that with him, even if they were definitely not up to date.
“We forgot to read those!” he exclaimed, getting up.
She watched as he closed his eyes to pick one at random, and brought it back to the bed.
“Which one did you get?”
“Let’s see… oooh, ‘Clara Rossignole is looking for a Ladybug and a Chat Noir for her next music video’”, he read aloud. “Wow. How old is that stuff?”
“Er, I think I must have been fifteen or something so… Seven years old?”
“Amazing! Exactly what I need to keep up with the latest juicy gossip!” He grinned.
Ladybug laughed and leaned on his shoulder to have a better look at the magazine. She remembered that one with this cover very well, it was the one where there was a personality test about—
“‘How compatible are you with teen model Adrien Agreste’, page 21.” Chat Noir fake-gasped. “Spiiicy! Let’s do it!”
As he opened the magazine, Ladybug hoped that it wouldn’t be too obvious to see how easy it was to find the page right away. Despite the years that had passed, the page was still bearing the marks of having been opened and opened again and stared at for far too long, more than any other.
If he noticed, Chat Noir chose not to comment.
He grabbed a four-coloured pen on his nightstand. “Wow, my Lady, that’s a lot of ink on there! We can barely see the little symbols in front of the answers.”
Well. She had had to take the test more than once to get a better score. She’d been aiming for a hundred percent compatibility, a hundred-and-one if she was lucky, or over-compatible—as she should have been back then according to herself.
Not that she would admit that to him.
“I had done it with friends. That’s why it’s so… inky.”
Chat Noir hummed, suspicious, but didn’t push further.
“And it doesn’t work with symbols, it’s a points system. So we can’t cheat,” she added.
She would know. She had tried.
He snorted. “You remember this surprisingly well, Buguinette.”
She didn’t comment on that very accurate observation. Instead, she dropped a kiss on his cheek.
“Why do you want to do that test anyway?”
“Because it’s fun! And to see if I can get a better score than you,” he said.
She scoffed. “As if you would win! I’m unbeatable at this.”
That made him snicker. “Unlike with UNO?”
She glared at him at that and pulled her head away from his shoulder. He brought her back with an arm around her, and kissed her temple apologetically.
She begrudgingly accepted the kiss. Very begrudgingly. (She couldn’t help but smile at the contact of his lips).
(She also couldn’t help but snuggle closer to him).
“So,” Chat Noir went on, “what do we have for the first question… Oooh, ‘which colour is your favourite? Green, Blue, Pink or Red?’,” he raised a brow. “That’s not a lot of choices in my opinion.”
“Blue,” Ladybug automatically answered.
Chat Noir snorted. “No, yours is pink Bugacheat, I know that well enough,” and he circled the answer in red. “However, mine is blue.”
“Maybe I changed favourite colour.”
“No, you didn’t,” he replied flatly. She pouted. “Next question. ‘What is your favourite season?’”
Ladybug pondered. She liked all seasons, after all; they each had their charm.
“Can’t we pick all of them?”
“Well, apparently you can’t because, according to this very accurate magazine, Adrien Agreste has only one favourite season.”
“Write ‘autumn’, then,” she decided.
He circled it in red for her, and circled spring in green for him.
“Okay, ‘how many times do you blink in the span of a minute? Fifteen, eighteen, twenty or twenty-two”, he frowned. “Where did they even get these information?”
“They have very good sources.”
“Sure,” he snorted. “Does Adrien Agreste himself even know the answer to that?”
“Well, of course, it’s in the magazine,” she laughed.
She knew it couldn’t really be trusted, but she liked to take these facts as straight science when she was younger.
“God, these tests are so bad,” Chat Noir shook his head. “How is that suppose to tell you if you’re compatible with him or not?”
“Hey! Don’t criticise my magazine or you’ll offend mini-me!”
“Well, Babybug, I think the questions from your magazine are dumb. And I’m answering… I don’t know... eighteen maybe?”
“Put twenty-two for me,” she said proudly.
She remembered the answer corresponding to Adrien’s to that question, but he didn’t need to know that.
They went on like that through the rest of the test, from morning routine to favourite scent—“Ew, why are one of the answers camembert?”— and gut reaction when faced with an akuma—“you would jump off of a building, Kitty”. Ladybug tried to answer what ‘Adrien’ would do instead of herself, and Chat Noir corrected her each time—“I choose passion fruits!” - “there’s a reason you always take strawberry ice-creams, my Lady. You can’t fool me!” — until they arrived at the end of the test.
“Aaaaand I’ve got a score of…” Chat Noir paused, looking and calculating the results, “eighty-six percent! While you, on the other hand, despite trying to cheat on at least five questions—”
“Hey!”
“—have a score of… Aw, only forty-one!”
“What?!” Ladybug all but screamed.
“Ah, yes, it looks like I beat you Buguinette!” The little shit sounded so proud with himself.
“There’s no way your score is higher than mine,” she said, snatching the magazine from his hands and scrupulously recounting the points herself.
There was no way, indeed.
And yet.
Chat Noir knew how to count, alright. Ladybug was silently fuming.
No, it didn’t matter anymore whether she was compatible with her old crush or not. And yes, the magazine was probably incorrect anyway.
And sure, Adrien was twenty-two now, not fifteen, so his answers would probably not be the same anymore, but still.
She had to defend young-Marinette’s honour.
And in honour of young-Marinette’s past struggles and unconditional love, there was no way Chat Noir of all people could be more compatible with Adrien than herself.
Chat Noir’s laughters brought her out of her shocked horror.
“Aw, don’t pull that face, Bugachups, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose! Maybe you’ll beat me to the next! Say, they don’t have a compatibility test with Chat Noir by any chan—”
“You cheated.” She stated it calmly but coldly. She had to be calm about it. “You must have.”
Chat Noir guffawed. “I’m not you! Also why so upset? Afraid I ruined your chances with…” he took the magazine back from her hands to read the caption under the test’s title, “...Paris’ favourite teenage boy?” He frowned. “Hey, shouldn’t that have been me at the tim—”
“No, I’m not afraid of anything like that,” she grumbled. “It’s just that… I used to know everything there was to know about Adrien Agreste back in the day.”
He blinked. “Everything?!”
“Everything,” she repeated. “Also, I don’t need to do a Chat Noir compatibility test to know that I’d get a hundred percent at it.”
He snickered. “I sure do hope that you’d get a higher score with me than that poor forty-one percent.”
She hit him with her pillow. For making fun of her, and for not having taken the bait.
“Yes,” she insisted, “I’d have a better score and I’d get the highest, thank you very much.”
He gently pinched and squished her cheeks while nuzzling his nose against hers teasingly. “Aaaww, of course we would be the most compatible Buguichou, we’re made for each other!”
Better.
Still, they had become so comfortable with each other now that it could mean everything and nothing.
“Chat Noooiiiiir,” she whined in lieu of pushing further, “stop annoying me!”
He released her and laughed. “You love it when I annoy you!”
Yes.
“No.”
He snorted and shook his head. “Anyway.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “What was it about you knowing everything there was to know about teen model, Paris' darling extraordinaire Adrien Agreste?”
She groaned. “Please can we not?”
“No. I want to know more about the boy I’m eighty-six percent compatible with, Bugaboo! And who better to teach me all I need to know other than the finest expert you aaaaar—”
She snatched the magazine back from his hands and swatted him with it.
“You’re” —swat— “not” —swat— “more compatible than me” —hit— “with Adrien” she had him pinned on the bed and he was giggling, trying and failing to push her away, “because I had the biggest crush” —swat— “on him and I was” —swat— “in love with him, do you understand?”
She stopped hitting him to throw him her deadliest look.
“Wait, what?” he said, still grinning from the fight. “You were in love with him like… in love love?”
She crossed her arms. “Yes, I was in love love with him.”
He snorted. And then, slowly, his body shook more and more, the laughters coming from him getting louder and louder.
“You—,” he choked, raising a finger in her direction, “you were in love with Adrien Agreste when we were fifteen.”
She sighed. “Yes, I was in love with Adrien Agreste. Go on, laugh all you want, ‘ha-ha-ha, Ladybug was in love with Hawkmoth’s son, ha-ha,’ so funny.”
“Oh my god, yes, Ladybug in love with our enemy’s son,” he kept laughing. “Waaait, wait wait, hold on, that’s excellent but… when you told me you were in love with someone else, back then…”
Her stomach fluttered at the memory that yes, Chat Noir used to be in love with her.
“...Does that mean that he was the boy you were referring to?” he looked at her expectantly.
She didn’t reply.
“He was?!" he exclaimed. “Ladybug, that’s… that’s… that’s hilarious!” and he was back laughing, even louder than before.
She glared at him, before grabbing her pillow once again and hitting him with it.
“No, no—I’ll stop, I’ll stop! But you don’t understand, this is so funny!”
“I really don’t see why.” And with that she lay down on the bed and turned around, her back to him. “Adrien is a very sweet person, I had great taste.”
Today, however, by loving Chat Noir? Maybe not so much, she decided.
A warm hand settled on her arm.
(She still had great tastes).
“Say, my Lady… if you were to meet that Adrien boy today and he were to ask you on a date… would you say yes?” She could still hear the remainder of his amusement in his voice, but he seemed to have calmed down, now.
She turned around to face him. He was lying on the side, propped on one elbow with his head resting on his hand. She pondered his question a few seconds. She hadn’t seen Adrien in a while, after all.
And… there was someone else now. She wasn’t fifteen anymore.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
He was rubbing small circles on her arm.
“Oh?” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “What would fifteen-year-old-Bugbooboo think about that?”
She snorted. “She wouldn’t believe I’d ever say that. She’d think I lost my mind.”
He chuckled with her.
She frowned. “But… well, we all change when we grow up and… Adrien is probably still a great person. And I mean, with what he had to go through, I admire him a lot. But also, there’s some—… there’s… there’s...”
“There’s what?”
You.
“Chat Nooiiir,” she tugged at the kwagatama around his neck instead, and raised her eyes to his. She bit her lip. “You know.”
She couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. Even after all these years, confessing was still something she found herself struggling with. But she kept his gaze as he silently searched hers; she wouldn’t back away or hide from it.
She kept it as he slowly took the hand that was fiddling with his necklace and lifted it to his lips. Kept it as he gently kissed the tips of her fingers. As she felt a shiver and the heat rising to her cheeks and was sure he could see it, too.
And she still kept his gaze as he lowered their hands on the mattress, and caressed hers with his thumb.
He knew.
And he reciprocated. She put a hand on his cheek, and slowly brought her face closer to his. She was about to close her eyes and the gap between them when a finger on her lips interrupted her.
Chat Noir closed his eyes, letting a small smile tug at his lips. Took a deep breath. Exhaled.
Opened his eyes again and looked right into hers.
“What if…” he said nervously, almost as a murmur, a deep contrast to his amusement from earlier. “What if I told you that… that you could have both? In one person.”
Her eyes widened. She sat up suddenly and grabbed his face. Did he mean that—
“Chaton?!” she said surprised —questioning. Her eyes frantically searched his.
He took one of her hands and brought it to his mask. And slowly nodded.
Carefully, shaking, she removed the home-sewed mask from his face.
His eyes were closed, but it was the unmistakable face of Adrien that met her. And older Adrien, an Adrien who was still the same but also so different.
An Adrien who was Chat Noir, and had always been—an Adrien that she knew more than she could have possibly thought.
As he opened his eyes to look at her, she took both his hands and kissed them. She noticed that she was crying when she saw tears dropping on his ring. She didn’t care.
It suddenly hit her that this boy had had to fight against his own father—and that it was certainly why he hadn’t been ready to show himself before. What he just did now, finally revealing himself to her—this was huge.
But looking at his gaze, soft from her actions, and feeling his hand wiping her tears away, she decided that it was probably not something he wanted to discuss now. And she didn’t want to ruin their moment, their reveal, with pity and talks about his father: the very thing he had probably tried to avoid when he was still insecure about who he was under the mask.
She giggled through her tears. “You’re beautiful,” is what first made its way out of her mouth.
That made him laugh and oh god, she was making him cry too now.
“Take off my mask. Please,” she whispered, kissing his fingers once more.
He sat up next to her, are gently put a strand of her hair behind her ear.
Then, he did as she told—and gasped.
“You—you’re Marinette!”
She giggled again. “And you’re Adrien!”
“I was thinking about you the other day. I was wondering how you were doing and…” he trailed off.
“And now you know!”
“And now I know!” he grinned. “You’re wonderful… I missed you so much but… it also sounds weird to say that now, doesn’t it?”
“Well… we could still catch up, around a coffee and uh… is this date with both Chat Noir and Adrien still on the table?” she asked.
Was she being a bit too straight forward? Probably. But she had troubles to control her mouth right now.
“When will it not?” he breathed.
She squealed and wiggled on her spot, grabbing his face. But before she could come closer to him, she faltered and stopped, remembering his finger on her lips a few minutes before.
“Uh, can I kiss you this time?”
He chuckled, a soft blush gracing his cheeks—and kissed her in answer.
She immediately closed her eyes at the contact of his lips and kissed him back—slowly, deeply, tasting him as much as she could. He tilted his head to give her a better access, and she climbed on his laps to be more comfortable—and closer to him.
Marinette lost count of how many times they came back for each other, of how many times their lips met, or their tongues. She felt so happy and so good—so in love.
When they separated and looked at each other, shy and giddy smiles on their faces, she couldn’t help but drop another tender kiss on his cheek, and caressed it afterwards.
“Now I know what you found so funny earlier,” she told him.
“It’s hilarious, right? We were so dumb!”
“We still are,” she added.
“We definitely still are. I can’t believe I didn’t know that Marinette was in love with me in collège, wow.”
“Is in love with you,” she corrected, still caressing his cheeks. “Present tense.”
She would always remember the look on his face when she said it. He was in love with her too, there was no doubt about it.
Suddenly, she was hit with a realisation and looked at him in horror. “Wait a minute. That means… That I have only forty-one percent compatibility with Chat Noir?!”
Adrien burst out laughing. “My Laaaady, you can’t seriously believe these tests, right?”
“Well, no, but we still should have way more compatibility than forty-one percent. Who even has that with their super-hero partner?”
“Marinette,” he said, amused, “my Bugabisous…I don’t even have a hundred percent with myself. It would be hard to live in my own head.”
She blinked. “You’re right. That test is dumb. But how do we know if we’re the most compatible then?”
Adrien chuckled, and put his hands around her waist, bringing her closer to him. “Well, you’re the Guardian, I think you can make up the rules for that.”
She put her arms around his neck. “That’s true. Then I decide that we’re a hundred percent compatible.”
“A hundred percent, uh?”
Their foreheads were touching now.
“A hundred-and-one,” she whispered against his lips, and she kissed him.
#ml fanfic#mlbforblm#commission#aged-up characters#they're like 22-ish#rated T#identity reveal#ladynoir#ladybug#chat noir#pre-relationship#they're still in love though#but also very close & comfortable friends#fluff#mine#myshitwriting#80% of the fic is banter#20% ladybug hitting chat noir with her pillow#they kiss too#maría made a cameo too can u spot her jhfs
403 notes
·
View notes
Text
Adrien Agreste September 2021
Day 1
Wednesday
Childhood
@adrienagresteseptember2021
“Tag!”
The girl with the blue hair got him, again. She aimed for the brunette, but she was to fast on her skates.
“I’m going to get you Chloe!”
Chloe ran shrieking through the people who were gathered to celebrate something concerning the Louvre. Adrien followed her close behind and nearly got her as they bumped into a woman you wouldn’t want to mess with.
“Carol! Mini Agreste! And you other two! What are you thinking! You can’t just run around, screaming, while running into people on an exclusive gala!”
The four had their heads lowered and stared at Audrey Bourgeois shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. That was until the little brunette, Alix, pointed at something. Because Audrey was standing in some jello they dropped while playing catch.Uncontrolled giggles were soon filling the hall they were currently standing in.
Audrey started ranting that they should take her serious and how they are fired. Suddenly a calming hand was put onto her shoulder.
“Oh, Audy, they are only kids, don’t take it to heart. I’m sure they didn’t have any bad intentions.”
While the blond boy jumped in the arms of the woman with a cry of ‘Mommy!’, the bluenette bowed her head.
“Yes, ma’am. We’re very sorry ma’am.”
Tomoe Tsurugi heard her daughter’s voice. “Kagami, what is going on? You just ran off.”
“I’m sorry mother, we were playing tag and then ran into her.” Kagami points at the, now calm, Mrs. Bourgeois.
Emilie reassured Tomoe that everything was alright and nothing happened. Shortly after Alim Kubdel stepped to them and the kids were send of to Alix’ room to play there, where nothing could happen.
This is one of Adrien’s happiest childhood memories. But now this is all over. His mother died a few weeks ago and he’s now 13 but he wasn’t allowed to leave the house or communicate with his friends since than on. So everything he’s been doing the last days was lying on his bed and wait for the day to be over.
He was angrily slamming the keys of his piano because his father wanted him to practice and he did, he was just not good at it. If it wasn’t for Alix and the window he opened so everybody could hear him he would have never noticed Chloe, Kagami and Alix throwing pebbles at his window, but Alix decided to aim for the opened window and hit him on the back.
Knowing no one but those three would dare to throw something at the Agreste Mansion leaned out the window and waved to the them.
“Yo, Rapunzel, ready to break out of this hellhole?”
“Alix! They could hear us!”
“So? At least he’ll know what we think of this! And that nothing can stop us! We’ve given him weeks. We didn’t even know if Adrien was alive anymore!”
“Even if Alix is exaggerating a bit, I have to agree, Gabriel should know that this is no way of dealing with loss.”
“Alright, alright, but how, exactly are we going to get him out? Have you thought about that?”
“I don’t quite believe that this will work, but Alix had an idea.”
“Yes, you’re going to throw a rope from the balcony of the hotel, Chloe, and Gami and I will tie the end to something like a stone and throw it to Adrien. As soon as it’s safely secured on both ends, Adrien will climb out.”
“To the top of the hotel?”
“I thought only over this giant wall, but the hotel would work too.”
“I... actually expected worse.”
“See, Kagami, I told you she would like my idea and if Adrien doesn’t like it, I have another one.”
“No! It’s alright! We’ll go with it!” It was his best and only option.
By those words, Chloe hurried of for the hotel and a few minutes later a rope fell down from the top balcony of the hotel.
“Sooo, Kagami, any idea what we could tie it around?”
“You didn’t think of this?!”
“I didn’t think I would get this far!”
“Alright, I think I have an idea.”
Without another word Kagami sprinted into the hotel. Inside she didn’t have time to wait for the elevator, so she sprinted up the stairs all the way up to the top, to Chloe’s suit.
“Where is it? Where is it?” Kagami was frantically searching for the bag she dropped of earlier, all her fencing equipment was n it, including her helmet which should be heavy enough to throw it over the giant fence into Adrien’s room.
There it was. Under the bench in front of Chloe’s bed. Kagami ripped the big open rumoring through its content and at the bottom of it was her helmet. As she hastily grabber her helmet she tumbled down the few steps and nearly landed face first on the floor. Thanks to various sports like fencing, yoga and some ancient Japanese fighting technique she placed her foot forward and steadied herself.
Back down next to the Agreste mansion found Kagami Adrien and Alix happily chatting, the later holding the end of the rope waiting on Kagami.
“Kagami! You’re back!” Adrien spotted her easily and was waving excitedly at the thought of finally getting out. “What did you do?”
“I got my helmet. We can tie the rope around it.” The short pinkette ecstatically threw her arms around Kagami.
“You’re brilliant, Gami.”
Not even a minute after the two girls had the helmet tied up with thousands of knots because Chloe insisted on more than one. She screamed it from the hotel through a megaphone, it’s marvelous how neither Gabriel, himself, nor Nathalie took notice it. But the Agreste’s were rich, so maybe they had soundproof walls?
But that’s beside the point. Alix took the helmet from Kagami and weighed it in her hands, to calculate how she’d have to throw it. Happy with how the helmet felt in her hands she took a throwing stance, aimed, threw and hit.
“Whooooo!” Alix was jumping and fist bumping the air in celebration.
While Alix was cheering over her victory, Kagami kept a cool head and shouted instructions to Adrien, “Take the rope and tie it to something like... your poll! Yes, that should work.”
Adrien quickly did as told. “Done!” He was already climbing along the rope over the fence and, jumped down into the arms of Alix and Kagami.
“Shit, Adrien. You’ve gotten heavy.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Chloe started shouting through her megaphone again, “Guys, I’m coming down!”
Adrien now once again lives his childhood happily ever after with his best friends, right at his side.
#Adrienagresteseptember2021#adrien agreste#gabriel agreste#emilie agreste#chloe bourgeois#kagami tsurugi#alix kubdel#audrey bourgeois#tomoe tsurugi#alim kubdel#miraculous ladybug#miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
What He Deserves
Summary: Not even a week has passed since Hawkmoth was revealed to all the world to be Gabriel Agreste. As Adrien sits in his truly empty house, unable to leave thanks to the crowd of people outside, he wonders if this is what he deserves for not realizing sooner.
But then again, not everyone has the same ideas about what he deserves...
Hello and welcome to another birthday fic! This one is for the ever amazing @leviaana, founder of my favorite discord group, fantastic artist, and occasional candy exchange buddy. She said she likes post-reveal hurt/comfort that turns to fluff and I aim to please!
Enjoy!
Read on Ao3
Adrien tentatively pulled back the curtains in the second-floor living room and peered outside, across the porch and over the wall that separated him from the outside world.
The news had broken only a couple days ago - only hours after Adrien himself found out. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting at first, but it wasn’t long before the crowd started to form. Some were unquestionably reporters. His years as Chat Noir had made it easy for him to pick them out from a crowd. He even recognized some of their voices, which had long been chasing him for interviews.
Somehow, he didn’t think they were going to be asking him about his favorite flavors or the most interesting akumas now. Although they definitely would be interested in what he knew about Hawkmoth, now that his father had been unmasked.
Which is why he believed the other people in the crowd were here. Some just seemed curious. Others seemed... Angry.
Maybe that was to be expected. The fall of Hawkmoth was as sudden as it was unexpected. Just another routine akuma attack that had accidentally revealed his base of operations. A quick five on one fight later and the butterfly miraculous was in Ladybug’s hands, a battered Gabriel Agreste was taken into custody, and Adrien Agreste’s life had been left in shambles.
It meant that there wasn’t much closure for anyone - not yet, at least. While people waited for his father’s trial to start, years of building frustration had to find an outlet somewhere.
And who better than the last free, living Agreste?
Thankfully, nothing had happened yet, but the crowd had turned his home into more of a prison than it had ever been while his father was in it and that was an accomplishment all on its own. Without his parents, Nathalie, or even the Gorilla to take up space in the mansion, he had never felt so alone before.
The only company Adrien had Plagg and his own emotions, and neither were doing wonders for his mental health.
“Kid,” Plagg said with a tired voice. They’d had this conversation plenty of times before and Adrien knew they were about to have it again. “None of this was your fault.”
“Yeah?” Adrien closed the curtain just as people started to look his way, plunging the room into darkness once again. “I’ve lived under the same roof as Hawkmoth for years.” Adrien raised his voice and threw his hands over his head. “I’m Chat Noir! If anyone could have found Hawkmoth ages ago, it would be me!” His arms fell limply to his sides once again and he stared dully at his kwami. His voice dropped to just above a whisper. “So why didn’t I?”
Plagg shook his head. “He was good enough to hide it from everyone and he was a recluse, even with you. There’s no way you could have known without doing some serious digging.”
“Maybe…” Adrien stared at a massive family painting, saw the cold and calculating look his father had even then. “Or maybe I just didn’t want to even consider it. Maybe I was having so much fun being Chat… fighting alongside my friends… alongside Marinette, that I just didn’t care.”
“You know that’s not true,” Plagg replied quietly.
“Who knows? That’s probably what they think now. No wonder they haven’t tried to visit since the news broke. They don’t want to be anywhere near me right now, and I can’t blame them.” Adrien put his back to the wall and slid down it, taking a seat on the ground and pulling his knees up to his chest. “I don’t want to be near me right now. No wonder they feel the same way.”
“Kid-”
Whatever Plagg was going to say was cut off when there was a knock at the front door. With how quiet and still the rest of the house was, it sounded as loud as thunder as it echoed in the emptiness. Adrien shot a fearful glance toward his kwami - had people finally stormed the mansion? - but Plagg just shook his head and smirked.
Cautiously but now a little curious, Adrien went down the stairs. He watched the door all the while as soon as it came into view. There was another knock. Not violent or angry. Polite. Familiar. But definitely insistent.
Adrien peeked out the window next to the front door and his eyes widened at the sight of his friends loitering on the other side.
Nino and Alya were chatting as if this was nothing out of the usual. Marching up to Hawkmoth HQ, straight past a future angry mob, just to knock on the front door? Who doesn’t do that on a Friday afternoon, honestly? And there was Chloe, of course, checking her makeup in her compact, looking as fashionably detached from her environment as ever.
And standing right in front of the door, expectantly, happily… was Marinette herself. One hand was holding onto a big duffle bag that was thrown over her shoulder and the other was held at her side as she stared up into the sturdy wood door. There was no doubt in her eyes, no worry that he might not answer. Just complete and patient faith.
How could he even contemplate letting her down?
Adrien opened the door and it was like breaking open the flood gates. The first thing he saw was Marinette’s face, her bright blue eyes looking up at him as they shifted from quiet contemplation to soft affection. Their eyes connected in a moment that lasted forever and he could almost swear that his heart stopped beating as they stared into each other…
“Dude!”
The moment shattered when Nino bodily threw himself over the threshold and collided with Adrien, forcing him to stumble back a few steps or fall down in a heap.
The others quickly followed Nino’s example and soon Adrien was caught at the center of one big group hug. Marinette was the last to join since she paused to close the door. A few seconds into the hug, Adrien realized to his surprise that he was trembling - had he really missed human contact that much over the last few days?
All too soon they each pulled back until they were standing around the foyer, watching him. That’s when he noticed that it wasn’t just Marinette with an overstuffed bag with her. It looked like each of them had packed for a long trip.
Some of his confusion must have shown on his face since Alya grinned and said, “Better get used to having some roommates for a while, blondie. We’re not going anywhere.”
“But how did you get passed the-?”
“She knew the passcode for the gate.” Chloe jerked a thumb at Marinette. “The rest of us glared at the crowd until they gave us some space.”
“But don’t worry ‘bout that, dude!” Nino threw an arm around Adrien’s shoulder. “We’re here to have a chill time. You’ve got the space and we’ve got the fun, so let’s get this party started!”
Nino steered Adrien towards his room and they got started.
‘Bringing the fun’ hadn’t even been close to an exaggeration on Nino’s part. There were video games, movies, board games, all sorts of ways to keep themselves entertained. His room started off as the cold and sterile place that it had been for most of his life. But as the hours ticked past, it slowly changed into something else. Someone would go and grab more pillows. They’d push some couches and chairs together in front of the television. Tables would be pulled together for a huge game. Snacks and drinks were strewn everywhere.
It was chaotic. His room was a mess.
It was the most fun he’d had out of the mask in his life. The house was filled with light and life and love for the first time in years and he had his friends to thank for that. Or, as he slowly realized, Marinette specifically. She was the one who had planned it all, organized them, and got as much entertainment together as possible.
The day gave way to night and they were all camped out in front of his television, lost in a cozy den of blankets and pillows propped up against his couch. They were deep into a movie marathon. It could have been twenty two hundred at night - it could have been four in the morning. Time was meaningless at this point. Almost everyone was asleep, except for him.
Well… him and Marinette.
She was laying right beside him as they shared the same blanket, scooted close to each other as the winter chill began to set in. They weren’t touching, but he could feel her warmth radiating off her. His hand twitched ever so slightly as he yearned to move it just a few centimeters and take her hand in his.
The years had brought them closer together than ever, especially after their identities had gotten revealed to each other. They’d always teetered on the edge of a relationship, but with all the uncertainties of life and the tangled mess of revealed identities, they never could commit.
But now, as he glanced furtively at her, lit only by the pale light of the movie, he wondered…
Then he remembered the reason they were here in the first place and his mood crashed. He didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve any of them. He-
“Adrien?”
Her voice was soft - he could barely hear her over the television, even with the audio turned down to a low rumble so their friends wouldn’t be woken by it.
She was waiting on an answer.
“Yeah?”
“We’re all here for you. We love you.” His ears may have heard ‘we’, but his heart had heard the ‘I’ that was hidden beneath it.
She was braver than him. Her hand crossed the short distance between them and she intertwined their fingers.
The television became blurred as tears began to build, clouding his vision. He shook his head as he bit his lips to hold back a sob.
“I don’t- I don’t deserve- After everything-”
“You aren’t your father,” she said quietly but firmly. “You’ve proven yourself so, so much better than that.” Her thumb began to rub against the back of his hand. “We’re not going anywhere.”
She scooted closer to him. His arms wrapped around her waist, with his hands meeting up on her back, pressing her close to him as he buried his face into her shoulder as the tears that he’d been holding back for so long began to fall. He was worried he was holding her too tight, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said as she held him back and kissed the crown of his head.
#Miraculous Ladybug#Adrien Agreste#Marinette Dupain-Cheng#Adrienette#Post-Reveal#Nino Lahiffe#Alya Cesaire#Chloe Bourgeois#ml fanfiction#birthday fics#my writing#What He Deserves
154 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ten Questions With a Twist Chapter 6
I. Cannot. TELL you how sorry I am for the delay. It has been a crazy couple of days, but I’m about to post the two final chapters of Ten Questions With A Twist!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ This Chapter ~ Chapter 7 ~
“Hey, Marinette!” Adrien called, waving frantically at the bluenette. Classes had just ended and he wanted to be sure to catch her before she left in a hurry.
Marinette turned and saw Adrien there, red in the face. “Hey Adrien. Are you okay? Did you just… run to find me?”
“Umm… How many more of those questions do you have?” Adrien deliberately didn’t answer the question, for fear of seeming like the desperate mess he had turned into. “You know, from that Black Cat guy?”
A light of comprehension shone behind her eyes, “Oh, those. Just a few. I’m really sorry if they were too invasive or anything. I can always tell him it was a bad idea.”
“No! Actually, I think it’s kind of a fun idea. I’d like to answer the rest of them for you.”
“Oh! That would be great!” She put her backpack on the ground and started digging through it to find the list, a formality at this point, as she had already memorized the questions.
“Why don’t we hang out for a bit? We could go back to your place and answer these questions. Maybe play some Mecha Strike? That good luck charm you gave me might even help me beat you.” Adrien wiggled his eyebrows and Marinette blushed, but laughed.
“I’m not sure it’s that lucky, but it sounds like fun.” Her eyes widened, “Actually, could you give me just a little bit of time to clean up my room first? It’s in a pretty embarrassing state right now. Meet me at the bakery in twenty minutes?”
“Sounds good P- pal.” Adrien caught himself. He was about to call her Princess, but that would give him away. He had a challenge to win, after all.
It took about fifteen minutes to convince the Gorilla to cover for him, not too difficult to do considering he was supposed to take Adrien to his Chinese lessons directly after school. Adrien simply reminded the Gorilla that a conversation in Chinese with Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was a very practical application of the information he already knew so well. They agreed that he would pick him up from the Dupain-Cheng bakery in about two hours.
Adrien made his way, slowly, to the bakery.
The bakery, being right across the street from the school, and having such delicious treats, was very busy. Adrien waited dutifully in line and when he got to the counter, Sabine greeted him warmly. He responded in Chinese, explaining that the only way he had talked his bodyguard into letting him come was to promise to practice his Chinese. Sabine smiled and ushered him to the back. She pointed him to the staircase and told him, in Chinese, to follow it until he reached Marinette’s room, and that there would be snacks up there for the both of them.
Now, at this point, Adrien knew for a fact he was in love with this girl. But if there had been even a sliver of doubt in his mind, it all evaporated when he lifted the hatch to Marinette’s room.
She must have done a wonderful job cleaning, because apart from some half-finished sewing on a desk and a few balls of yarn on her bed, Marinette’s room was spotless. But that wasn’t what caught his eye. Leaning over her computer, attempting to plug in the game console, Marinette was humming contentedly with a cookie in her mouth. The picture of it all was so endearing, Adrien hated to alert her to his presence. However, he thought it might be creepy if she were to turn around and find him staring, so he cleared his throat.
Marinette made a noise that could only be described as a squeak, and bit down on the cookie, causing a portion of it to fall to the floor. “Adrien! I didn’t see you there! Come on in, I’ve got snacks!”
He climbed the final steps into her room and reached for a cookie, “Don’t mind if I do.”
Once Marinette had plugged in the console correctly and booted up the game, they chose their players and began. It didn’t take long for Marinette to secure a lead, so Adrien thought a distraction was in order.
“So what about those questions?”
Marinette was silent for a moment before speaking, “I know you’re just trying to distract me. But to prove a point, I will ask these questions AND win this round at the same time. Just watch.”
“Jeez, B- Marinette, that’s pretty harsh,” he said, playfully. He was learning that it would be very difficult to refrain from calling her by her nicknames. “Won’t you go easy on me? Please?” Adrien made puppy dog eyes at the screen, leaning forward so that she would hopefully catch a glimpse of his pouty lips and fast blinking eyes. Not two minutes later, he flung himself back into his seat, having been defeated.
Marinette placed her controller onto the desk in front of them, flashing him a sympathetic look. “And I wasn’t even distracted with those questions.”
“Alright,” Adrien relented, “What are they?”
“Okay, well, the question that seemed to make you sick might not be a good one to start off with…”
Adrien remembered his odd behavior earlier, and how stupid he had been to not see it sooner. “No, really, I’m fine. Shoot!”
“Okay, what’s your dream job?”
Adrien pretended to think, as if this question were a surprise to him, “I’d like to be a stay at home dad one day.”
“That’s so sweet! I’d like to be a designer one day. Have my own fashion line, company, that kind of thing. What’s your favorite movie?”
“The Princess Bride.”
“Isn’t that a bit of a chick flick?”
“There’s sword fighting and pirates and impossible odds! And anyway, what’s wrong with chick flicks?”
Marinette quickly defended herself, “There’s nothing wrong with chick flicks, I guess I pegged you as more of a studio Ghibli guy.”
Goodness, it had been a year or two since his last binge of those movies, “Oh, studio Ghibli is amazing! But still, there’s nothing like Wesley rolling down a hill screaming ‘As you wish’ only for Buttercup to fling herself down with him.”
Marinette started giggling, “I totally forgot about that part! Oh, I’ll have to rewatch that movie sometime soon. Favorite dessert?”
“Easy, the macarons from your parents bakery.”
“Really?” Marinette responded, “I’m flattered! What flavor?”
“That passionfruit one is my all time favorite, but that’s only seasonal. I really like any of the fruit ones.”
“Good to know! The other questions are pretty basic. What’s your name?”
Adrien put on a face and spoke in an accent, “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”
Marinette laughed and Adrien decided it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
“What school do you go to?”
“Hogwarts.”
She rolled her eyes, “No, seriously.”
Adrien looked at her, eyes calculating, “Is there a reason you want this guy to know all the answers?”
“No!” she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, “We just have to give the guy a chance. And anything he doesn’t guess correctly, I don’t have to tell him. So it’s not like I’m giving him all your information or anything.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Adrien said, leaning forward. Marinette blushed as if she knew exactly what he meant, but he continued anyway. “You like this guy, don’t you? You want him to guess correctly so you can go on a date with him!”
“What?!” Marinette acted repulsed by this, but her blush only deepened, “No way! He’s just a friend!”
“But you want to give him a chance.”
She seemed to hold her breath, making her face even redder, but then released and deflated, placing her head in her hands with her elbows on her knees. “I don’t know. Honestly, I probably like this guy a lot, I’ve just been so caught up on… this other guy for so long. It’s so confusing.”
“Have you thought about meeting him? You know, in person?”
Marinette lifted her head and looked at the ceiling instead, “Yeah. I have. I mean, this black cat guy is my best friend. We tell each other everything. He’s the only one who knows about this big part of my life and I rely on him for so much. He’s so sweet and really understanding about me wanting to keep our real names out of it.”
Adrien winced, but Marinette didn’t notice. He felt awful. She had always been so adamant that they not know each other’s identities. But he just happened upon it! One coincidence led to another, led to some questions, led to a point where he couldn’t turn back. “So you don’t want him to know who you are?”
“Well I wouldn’t say that.” Her hand went to the back of her neck and she rubbed it anxiously. “If we somehow found out, I’d honestly be thrilled. I even went so far as to ask Master F- forum.” Marinette blanched, looking Adrien directly in the eye, “Our forum master. The guy that runs the forum that we chat on. I went so far as to ask him about meeting in real life and he just smiled. He said ‘The wheels of life are in motion, but you cannot determine the speed’. I have no idea what that means, but he’s notoriously cryptic.” Adrien was going to say something, but Marinette was on a rant, so he sat back and listened. “And it’s like, he’s wanted to know for a really long time. Ever since the beginning. But I was so cautious, I said no. I thought it would be dangerous for us and our families.”
“And you need to be careful, with strangers on the internet.”
“Exactly! Strangers on the internet. But then, almost immediately, I trusted him. Right away, we were inseparable. And now that I want to know, I don’t know what to do.”
Adrien couldn’t help the smile that plastered itself on his face. “Well, Marinette, I’m sure things will work out. And you never know! Maybe he’s a really good guesser.”
“Maybe.” She said, obviously glad to have gotten some things off her chest. “In the meantime, let’s sneak down and grab you a couple of macarons.”
~ Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ This Chapter ~ Chapter 7 ~
Next chapter should be up by the time you read this far!
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
Tell Me So I Understand- Adrino Fic Request
This is one of my finished commissions for the amazing charity even @mlbforblm with a 4k fic commissioned under the request for ‘Adrien/Nino hurt comfort’. If you would like to comission something from me as well before this event concludes please go here to check out my slots! Please donate to this great cause and get a fic from yours truly.~~
----
The cool metal of the railing grounded him to the space, reminding him of where he was as he struggled to remain present. Nino took a deep breath, the frigid air making him shiver slightly. The balcony on which he hid was abandoned for the most part, one couple huddled together many yards away as they finished discussing something private. Neither of these people took any notice of him, the woman’s presumably lovely but insufficient dress for the cold forcing the pair to hurry back inside. They had likely been hoping for privacy, but it seemed only Nino’s turmoil was sufficient enough cause to stay in the bitter cold, ruminating.
He attempted to straighten his spine, standing tall as his hands pulled weakly at his tie, trying to let him breathe. He shuddered again as a cold breeze bit through his suit jacket, reminding him of its expensive weight paired with expensive shoes paired with expensive bullshit on this lifeless marble balcony-
He closed his eyes, forcing that spiraling thought down and trying to relax, but he couldn’t stop himself from pulling at the tie.
It had been unbalanced for almost the entire event, Nino noticing too late that it was askew and silently panicking over how long it had been that way. It was a small infraction but… depending on who you asked,
So was he.
His urgent hands stilled as they gave up on the mess they had made, falling forward to grip the ice cold railing again.
This was his first big event.
He had expected it to be taxing, he’d been bracing himself for it all month but he knew how much it meant to Adrien to do this together. Adrien himself had sworn off big galas and publicity junkets like this almost entirely after he turned 18, but every once in a while he’d put in an appearance at some big soiree and do his thing, if only for Gabriel.
This was the first event Adrien had planned to attend since the two of them had made their relationship public to the press. He had been so excited to attend it as a couple.
Now Nino had essentially abandoned him to the wave of rich folks with their petty shallow conversations and was on the verge of some kind of panic alone behind the first unlocked door he had found.
It had hit him out of nowhere… he hadn’t expected to be comfortable, fancy events were never really his thing and he had always felt out of place in formal spaces. However the more nervous he became the more he felt he was messing up every interaction he had. Despite Adrien’s best efforts they were routinely separated, and every time they were apart Nino would flounder along the edges of the party, hoping no one would talk to him. He was a pretty sociable guy but there were just so many people he didn’t know how to talk to. And in the end he had nothing to say.
When someone who probably had a mutli-million dollar net worth pointed out his tie was messed up it had really seemed like she was just being nice, wanting to let him know to save him the embarrassment, but it had just been the final straw. Now he was totally unpresentable, having made the problem worse as he routinely did.
Nino slumped against the railing, letting his face fall in his hands as he tried his best to get a grip… the cold, emotionless marble all around him left him in peace, even if the sudden swell of party noise did not.
The glass door clicking shut sent a spike of nerves up his back and he quickly reached for his tie, resolved to just rip if off when he heard a chilling, familiar voice.
“I hope you realize that’s one of kind. If you just throw it over the edge, I won’t be replacing it.”
Nino paused, taking a long, calculated breath. He couldn’t help the wash of anger that crept up on him in this vulnerable moment, but he used the freezing air around him to push it down, turning to regard the man who had found him.
Gabriel Agreste did not seem to notice the cold, standing as firmly and distantly as Nino had always known him to be. He was wearing unusually dark colors, his tux looking more appropriate for mourning then it did for a large charity event, but perhaps that was just apart of his newest theme. The suits he had tailored made for himself and Adrien were similar, though thankfully not identical. He approached slowly, drinking methodically from a tall glass.
Nino took a moment to decide how he wanted to handle this, before deciding after a time to just slouch against the railing, allowing his irritation to show on his face.
“What do you need,” Nino muttered, unwilling to engage in the careful politeness they usually maintained. He couldn’t honestly say he had had a deliberately unpleasant experience with Gabriel in some time now, but at this moment… he just didn’t have the energy.
Gabriel didn’t answer, his professional eye glancing over him and sending another wash of anger through him, analyzing him like every other fucking person he had met tonight. It was a shock however when Gabriel stepped forward, coming towards him without another comment just yet, like he didn’t feel the need for one.
Nino tensed in confusion and discomfort as Gabriel set his glass down and abruptly reached for the mess he had made of his tie, ignoring the way Nino backed up against the railing to make as much distance as he could. All Nino managed at first was an uncomfortable huff, but Gabriel hadn’t asked permission and he didn’t ask for any to continue. The cold, emotionless man just started fixing it, ignoring Nino’s rampant confusion.
They were dead silent as Gabriel fixed his tie, the older man just resolving the issue without comment or explanation. By the time he was done the tie was affixed perfectly in its place, but it was clear the young man wearing it was extremely uncomfortable still.
They waited, Gabriel taking a step away and looking out over the railing, the distant view of Paris at night their only commentary for a while.
It was still. And it was cold.
And it was quiet.
Nino didn’t move for a while, eventually shifting uncomfortably until he was looking out over the vista as well, a good five or six feet between them now.
Nino’s mind was racing over what to do, before a subtle shift interrupted his panicked thinking. He looked over just as Gabriel turned slightly to regard him.
“My son is looking for you.”
“Hm,” Nino replied, looking away. He fidgeted slightly, and said nothing else.
“He’s making a bit of a scene, people are starting to notice.”
Nino couldn’t contain his irritation at that, shooting Gabriel a dark look as he said, “Am I expected to apologize for that?”
“I would have thought you might,” Gabriel said coldly, looking away from him and out over the city. He paused for a beat before his tone shifted. “You accuse me of managing his image,” his voice fell into a near accusation, “You seem far more concerned with it than I am.”
“What does that mean,” Nino hissed at him, finally straightening and facing him fully, but Gabriel seemed unperturbed. He just continued to admire the view.
“It means if you weren’t so obsessed with how your presence affected his reputation you wouldn’t have ran away.” Gabriel turned slowly, fixing him in place with one cold, ice blue eye. “Hypocritical of you, seeing as my son largely holds it against me for asserting that same thing once.”
Nino didn’t manage to retort right away, a hot, angry feeling restricting his chest as he stared him down. He knew his hands were shaking, but as he grappled with the pit of anxiety that clawed through years’ worth of protective anger, he couldn’t know for sure why.
“Don’t act like you know me, you don’t know shit about me.”
“I know about people. It’s my business,” Gabriel stated firmly, looking off into the distance again as if Nino was barely there. “I’ve built a lot around understanding fundamental weaknesses in character. And if you think a man whose built his company around insecurities can’t identify one at a glance then you’re a fool.”
“So you’re a cold blooded monster. I get the picture.”
Nino half expected an evil chuckle or something else cliché from him at this point, but he was surprised to see the man pause and reach for his glass. When he finally spoke… his tone was cold, and bitter.
“I would have thought my son had already told you as much.”
Silence lapsed suddenly, Gabriel’s passive sentiment hanging between them as Nino tried to unpack what that meant. However, there was too much there, the older man continuing to drink silently.
Nino didn’t have anything to say, unsure of what to make of the cards Gabriel was playing. Was he aiming for pity? Like Nino should somehow feel bad about the relationship he had with his son? That didn’t seem right…
One hand drifted to his fixed tie, wondering what any of this was for.
“Do you have a point here Gabe? Or are you just adding vague upsetting dialogue to my breakdown tonight?” Nino pushed the words out firmly, knowing he had to stand his ground with this guy. His casual nickname annoyed him about as much as he had hoped, Gabriel suddenly looking stiff, but not addressing it.
“My point,” he finally spoke, “is that you’re as transparent as you can be. You’re insecure, you’re out of place. You don’t belong here and it makes you seem weak, anyone in that room can tell that much just from looking at you.” Gabriel turned, his expression completely unreadable. “You don’t think you deserve to be here with him.”
Nino didn’t flinch, clenching his fists tighter as he swallowed down all the dark, twisted crap he was feeling. He refused to waver, even if he was sinking he wasn’t going to let that show.
“Well isn’t that just everything you ever wanted,” Nino spat at him harshly, “isn’t it nice to know you were right.”
To his surprise, Gabriel was quiet.
Nino stood there, steadfast. Even if he didn’t know what to do with all the shit in his head, this was a threat he knew how to handle. But despite what he expected, Gabriel didn’t fire back. He waited, and finished his drink, setting it down with a quiet clink of glass against marble.
Gabriel straightened, standing as tall and as unbeatable as he always had. And yet he didn’t look him in the eye.
“I realized too late that what I think doesn’t matter.”
When he finally met Nino’s gaze, what he saw was a young man who was completely unprepared for what he was hearing. He still saw all those insecurities, woven into him and impacting every single thing he said and did. He had spotted them the first time they had met, seen them below the surface every day since. Nino didn’t even attempt to deny it, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that Gabriel understood what he thought didn’t matter anymore.
“You’re a hypocrite, and a fool,” Gabriel finally surmised plainly, “You openly accept the same things my son held against me. What I think of you doesn’t matter, what my son thinks of you does. Is that not what he always insisted?”
Nino waited… his steadfast posture loosening in his uncertainty, because- this wasn’t going… how he thought it would.
“… I didn’t think you really understood that.”
“It appears I wasn’t the only one.”
Nino was dumbstruck, completely disarmed in less than a sentence. The frigid air between them kept them separated, like winter in Paris somehow understood there would always be this immeasurable gap between these two people. Somehow though they occupied the same space, revealing them both for a moment. And he didn’t understand what he saw.
A man who had lost a lot because of his own actions. Naively, perhaps, he had always assumed Gabriel was oblivious to that.
Gabriel Agreste began to step away, pacing around him and abandoning his glass to chill out on the marble railing alone. He was shoulder to shoulder with him when Nino finally spoke, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him to stop.
“Wait- wait. Gabriel wh-,” he hesitated, conflicted about this but knowing he was exposed no matter what he did. He saw right through him.
Nino looked away from him and said, “What if you were right? What if… what if I’m not good enough?”
Gabriel paused, turning his face slightly to regard something, before looking back towards Nino. “I believe my son would have a lot to say on the subject.”
Nino frowned, confused for only a moment before Gabriel excused himself without ceremony or further comment. He stepped away and left him there, and it was only when Nino turned to follow his movement that he saw the illuminated doorway occupied by a still, silent silhouette.
Nino felt his heart falter before it sank deep into the pit of his stomach, the freezing cold of the night occurring to him for the first time in a while. It was inescapable now, chilling him to the bone as he watched Gabriel cross the space, passing by his son without feeling the need to address him. He just left them to survive one another, vanishing into the light and the sounds of the long-neglected venue.
It was quiet, the thrum of the party the only commentary. It faded and dulled as Adrien slowly closed the door, letting it shut without a sound and sealing them away in the private space.
Nino’s hands were shaking, and he knew perfectly why now; there was no anger left to compete for his confusion. He breath became uneven as Adrien stepped forward, coming towards him slowly but falling short with a sizable distance left between them.
The expression on his face was completely unreadable, set firmly in place as he stood there and said nothing. All Nino could hear now was his heart, and his breathing, the tempos erratic and out of sync.
“A-Adrien,” he finally managed, his hands anxiously fumbling with his cuffs. He let out a nervous laugh, unable to look away from his face. “L-look I don’t really know how much of that you heard, but I-,”
“I’ve been looking for you for half an hour,” Adrien spoke flatly, something just below the surface of his tone. “I called you a million times.”
Nino’s hand twitched towards his pocket, another uneasy laugh slipping out. “It must have died…,” he lied.
There was silence, for a while.
“I- I was-… Nino,” Adrien let his name out in a rush, like a gasp almost, and his unreadable expression cracked just a bit into endless guilt, “I came out here so ready to apologize and take you out of here, I was ready to say sorry for dragging you here and making such a big deal out of this even though I knew it made you uncomfortable. I knew you were having a horrible time I knew you hated it but I didn’t- I-,” he stopped again. Adrien looked away, staring down at the cold marble like he needed the distance, and to Nino’s horror he saw his shoulders shake as his hands balled into fists. “I thought you hated fancy parties, I thought you hated formal events. I thought you hated the people and the posturing and everything else I didn’t think-,” he stilled, and looked up. And the look on his face broke his heart.
“Nino is any of what you just said true? Please…,” and his voice cracked, “Please tell me you don’t really believe anything you just said…”
The space between them felt like miles to him, Nino pouring over the details of Adrien’s face before he couldn’t stand it and he just looked away. His hands curled together without his permission and he didn’t know what to say… he didn’t even know if it was true.
Gabriel had put it in his head but they both knew he was right, everything Nino thought throughout the whole wretched night came back to this one idea. That everyone in the room knew who Adrien was, everyone wanted the gossip on his newest announcement. Everyone wanted to see who was so important that Adrien Agreste had stepped away from the spotlight.
Everyone wanted to see if he was worth it.
And he didn’t know the answer…
His hands shook only once more, the cold only touching him for another, long, weighted moment. When suddenly he felt something warm and urgent and nearly angry push against his chest, forcing him three steps back.
He was backed up against the railing in a second as Adrien reached for his face, tilting his face and kissing him suddenly, so urgent and quick that it was only Adrien’s strength that kept them both from slipping. Nino let out a gasp of surprise but Adrien took it from him, him mind going blank as he kissed him again, only some corner of his mind registering the distant smash of glass as Gabriel’s abandoned drink tumbled away from them both a long ways down. He fell with it, in a way, only Adrien enough to keep him from breaking into pieces.
He fumbled for something to hold, loosely gripping at Adrien’s jacket as the contact went on, his fingers limp after a while, his thoughts unfocused.
He had no idea how long it went on for, but by the time they were done they were both panting unevenly. Adrien did not leave his space, planting his hands on either side of him on the railing to steady himself. Nino held on to him for much the same reason, his chin tucked into Adrien’s shoulder as they caught their breath.
“I-,” Adrien spoke unevenly, his voice heavy, “I have something… to say.”
“Are you going to say it like that? You can, if you want to,” Nino answered, his chuckle breathy as he struggled to ground himself.
“This is important,” was his only response to his joke, the man moving so that he could force him to look up, the two of them standing face to face.
Nino looked at him again, so close up now that he could see so much behind what he had interpreted as unreadable. It was angry, and guilty, and heartbroken; it was loving, and soft, and urgent, and desperate.
“I have something to say, and I want you to understand it. I- I need you to get this. And if you don’t, I’ll say it again.” His eyes drifted all over his face, holding himself in that intimate space.
“You’re the most important thing that has ever happened to me. The most… critical, and precious thing I have ever had. What you say, and what you think means everything to me, and that’s all. That’s it, I can survive everything else, I can put everything else aside Nino.” He looked him in the eyes, searching his face like he was desperate to be clear. “You are the only unquestionable thing to me, having you with me and knowing that I can be apart of your life is all that counts. I don’t care what they think!” he nearly shouted it, gesturing behind them to things Nino couldn’t even see anymore, only focused on his face. “I don’t care what he thinks, I care what you think, and what you believe. And if you can honestly try and tell me that you- you shouldn’t… that you can’t be- be seen with me I-…” he faltered, his head tilting down and shaking slightly like he didn’t understand. Nino tried to speak but Adrien continued, taking a deep breath and trying to steel himself. “I don’t get it, I don’t understand it. I can’t see it at all and that makes it so hard to come at because I just don’t see where you’re coming from. Please Nino,” he straightened up, looking at him again, “please explain it to me so I can understand. Tell me how it makes sense because I don’t understand. What did you mean when you said ‘What if I’m not good enough,’ what did that mean? Was that him? Was that him trying to get in your head?”
“No, no no no, I-,” Nino faltered, looking down so he could breath. Adrien’s hands were cold from the marble when he reached up to cup his face. When he tried to tilt his face up Nino resisted, moving a hand to hold on to his and leaning into it. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry-,”
“Don’t apologize. Just tell me so I can understand.”
“I don’t know!” Nino finally forced out, shutting his eyes and gripping his hand tighter. For a moment Adrien thought he was going to tear it away, but he just clung to him. “I don’t know, I’m just being stupid, I don’t know how I meant it. But every headlines saying it, every fucking tabloid post all the gossip Adrien its not like you couldn’t hear it,” he moved his other hand to pull a wad of Adrien’s jacket into a fist, hanging on. “I kept pretending like it wasn’t getting to me what was I supposed to say?” he continued wretchedly, finally looking up at his boyfriend and aware of the pain on his face. “How was I supposed to tell you that I didn’t get it either. That every crapshoot paparazzi asking who was so important and I just- I didn’t know. I just felt lucky that you loved me but I didn’t know the answer to all that shit, whose so important, I don’t know either. I don’t get it, I don’t get any of this! I don’t know where to stand or who to talk to or how to look,” he whispered, gesturing to his tie again though it hardly mattered anymore. As the words fell out of him he lost steam and urgency, leaning down until his forehead was against Adrien’s shoulder. His boyfriend responded immediately, holding him tightly.
“I’m sorry…,” Nino finally apologized anyways, keeping his eyes shut and trying to focus on only them. “I should have just told you I was way too far out of my comfort zone… I knew how much this meant to you and I blew it… I wanted people to see us together. But then everyone did and they were asking who I was, and I’m not any-,”
“Don’t,” Adrien cut him off, saying it so suddenly and firmly that Nino immediately fell quiet, pulling back to look up at him. “Don’t say that.”
When he pulled back to stand face to face with him again he saw all of the same things he had seen in him before, but among those feelings now he saw disbelief.
“Don’t talk to me like you’re no one, I can’t stand it Nino… I can’t. You just have no idea…,”
Nino hesitated, wanting to look away again, but not resisting when Adrien reached up to stop him. “No idea about what…,”
“No idea about you,” he answered, and the way he said it, the way he looked at him…
It was like he was everything.
When Adrien kissed him again Nino was instantly breathless, clinging to him as Adrien pushed him back. It was like he was trying to speak, taking Nino’s advice and trying to tell him everything he needed to say in a kiss.
His thumb slid over his cheek and Adrien kissed him again, and again, trying as many times as he could to get it all across. How do you tell someone that they’re everything to you? How do you tell someone who doubts and wavers that there are some things that are just fact… indisputable, undeniable facts?
I love you.
I know.
I love you.
I know…
I love you… I love you.
I know... I know... I love you too.
#mlbforblm#adrino#adrien/nino#adrinino#adrien agreste#nino lahiffe#gabriel agreste#if gabriel seems ooc to you#its because i gave him depth#lmao oooh burn to canon#my boys#my sweet sweet ship
250 notes
·
View notes
Text
Jealous! Adrien Damianette Ficlet Part 2!
The long awaited part two is here! Lots of blood, sweat, tears, and 7397 words later.... Anyway! I thought you guys should know that I reread all the comments on the first part of the ficlet, a lot of you said it broke your heart...well just a fair warning, this is so so so much worse! Muahahaha, anyway hope you enjoy! Thanks to @caffeinetheory for beta reading! Love ya
First Part Here Headcanon Post
~~~~~~~
“Yes Hawkmoth.”
It was faint but Marinette heard it. She pulled back in fear from Damian and turned around in horror to see a new akuma.
He had to have come from the school, he was akumatized just behind her. Marinette silently berated herself, if she hadn’t been in a lip lock with her boyfriend, if she hadn't been so irresponsible, maybe she could’ve prevented an akuma.
Nonetheless, Marinette couldn’t focus on the maybes, in order to defeat the akuma she needed a plan.
She scanned the akuma looking him up and down for clues about his powers and/or his akumatized object.
His skin was pale, and his hair was white. For a minute Marinette trembled, Chat Blanc… She willed herself to be strong, and relaxed when she realized it wasn’t Chat Blanc. The akuma had red irises that made the twisted grin on his face make him look even more threatening. He wore a long sleeved spandex black bodysuit, not unsimilar to her Ladybug costume material, with the emblem of a broken heart in the middle of his chest.
Not hard to guess a heartbreak got him akumatized.
On top of his head he wore a red beret almost resembling a beanie that reminded Marinette of the Evillustrator. Attached to his black suit was a black belt. The first thing Marinette noticed about it was that it held a silver bo staff like Chat Noir’s but instead of a green paw print there was the same red emblem that was on his chest.
There was a red pouch attached to the opposite side of his belt, but it looked empty to Marinette. The only thing that seemed out of place besides the pouch were the red roses next to the small bag.
So either the flowers or the pouch are the akumatized object Marinette thought. She looked over at Damian who wore a calculating expression.
“Damian run!” She whispered. He could not get caught up in this. He didn’t have superpowers, nor was he a superhero!
“I’m not leaving y-“
“Ladies and gentlemen!” The akuma shouted causing all eyes to fall on him. Everyone was silent. No one dared to move a muscle. “I am Brise-Coeur and I’m going to take from all of you, what’s been taken from me. Now kindly step right up, who’d like to be first?”
Chloé turned her face in disgust and squinted, “Wait...Adrikins?!?!”
“We have a volunteer.” Brise-Coeur announced, but Marinette was more focused on what Chloé had said. Could the akuma be Adrien? He had never been akumatized and he was a ray of sunshine in every way.
What could’ve happened to get him akumatized?! Marinette wondered, then she remembered it had to be a heartbreak, Maybe something about his mom?
It didn’t make sense.
“Chloé Bourgeois!” Brise-Coeur said loudly, scaring Marinette out of her thoughts, “You never really cared about my feelings. You never would’ve wanted me with my love, you tried to break up me and Kagami too.”
So could it be about Kagami? Marinette thought, That doesn’t make sense, they broke up ages ago…
“Chloé.” Brise-Coeur waltzed up to her. Chloé folded her arms, fire smouldering in her eyes, having her everlasting ‘try me’ look in them. “You never cared about my heart, so now I won’t care about yours.”
And with that Brise-Coeur thrust his arm into Chloé’s chest making her cry out in pain. Sabrina lunged forward towards her but it was too late. With a loud squish, Brise-Coeur took Chloé’s heart out of her chest with a grin.
“You’ll never stand in my way again Chloé.” And he squeezed the heart. It shrunk smaller and smaller as Chloé feel to the ground, blood beginning to run out of her mouth. Brise-Coeur crushed the last of her heart and let the ashy remains fall to the ground along with Chloé. She laid on the floor with a glossy look in her eyes.
Dead. Marinette realized. For the first time, Marinette was afraid.
“Who’s next?!” Brise-Coeur grinned.
“Damian, go.” Marinette tried to command, though it came out more like a choke.
“You’re coming with me!” He said in a hushed whisper.
“I can’t.” Marinette said inching away from him.
“Why not?!”
“Lila Rossi! You’ll be good before our main event!”
Marinette snapped her attention back to the center of the hall in DuPont. Brise-Coeur was approaching Lila. Although she didn’t like Lila, Marinette couldn’t let her die. She started running over before Damian pulled her back and held her closely,
“Adrien n-“
Brise-Coeur plunged into Lila Rossi and ripped out her heart. He crushed it without hesitation leaving Lila shattered on the floor.
Students flocked to her, but they knew that she suffered the same fate as Chloé.
“Dude! Stop this now! This is not the Adrien I know!” Nino yelled protecting Alya behind him.
“Ahh Nino.” Brise-Coeur walked up to him.
“Dude, I’m begging you. Don’t do this.” Nino said looking up with pleading eyes. Brise-Coeur smiled slightly.
“You’re my best friend Nino, I would never hurt you.” He placed a hand on Nino’s shoulder which made Nino flinch. “If you give up your heart to me I’ll make sure no harm comes to you, Alya too.”
Nino shied away, “You’re going to kill us.”
“No.” Brise-Coeur shook his head, “You don’t understand. I broke those other hearts because they deserved it, they were trying to keep me and my love apart. You and Alya are loyal friends, by giving me your hearts I’ll control you, you’ll still be loyal friends.”
“No way dude.” Nino said. Brise-Coeur tutted and ripped the heart of his best friend out.
“Nino!” Alya yelled.
“It would’ve been so much easier if you did it willingly.” Brise-Coeur shrugged, “Oh well… Nino,” he addressed holding his friend’s heart next to his mouth, “Hold Alya still please.”
Almost robotically Nino obeyed. He pinned Alya.
“Nino please…”
Brise-Coeur took the opportunity when Alya looked into Nino’s eyes for any trace of the boy she knew. Marinette shielded her eyes, she couldn’t watch her best friend…
When she returned her eyes to the scene Alta’s face was blank just like Nino’s.
“Perfect. My two friends!” Brise-Coeur smiled. “Now…” He turned towards Marinette. She looked at him wide-eyed. He chuckled a bit and looked over at Damian and grinned.
“Damian, go please!” Marinette whisper yelled.
“I refuse to leave you Beloved.” He said standing firmly at her side.
“Damian.” Brise-Coeur said walking towards him, “You stole her from me.” Damian raised an eyebrow. “You stole Marinette.”
“She’s not a thing I didn’t steal-“
“Shut up!” Brise-Coeur yelled as he ran towards Damian, “Shut up.” He said, more calm. He turned his focus to Marinette. He walked towards her. Damian held her hand tightly. “Mari...I realized it’s always been you. I’ve always loved you.”
Marinette inadvertently squeezed Damian’s hand tighter.
“He’s keeping us apart!” Brise-Coeur screamed pointing, with a bite Marinette had never seen in Adrien, at Damian. He approached Marinette’s boyfriend. Marinette let go of his hand knowing what she needed to do.
She took a deep breath and stealthily undid her earrings while Brise-Coeur focused on Damian and Damian stared right back. The rest of the students in the DuPont hallway had escaped besides Alya and Nino and of course Chloé and Lila.
Marinette held the earrings in her hand. Brise-Coeur extended his hand. Marinette shoved Damian out of the way just before he struck. She pressed the earrings into his hand and took his place, replacing Brise-Coeur’s intended victim.
Before he realized what he was doing Brise-Coeur had already shoved his hand into the area where her heart was located. He looked at her dumbfounded.
“Go.” Marinette choked out once more, holding back tears.
This time Damian listened.
He staggered out of the room before leaning down subtly and then dashing.
Marinette gave herself up when she saw he had left. She had her face next to Brise-Coeur’s.
He shakily took his hand out of her chest coming back heartless. Marinette panted realizing she was still alive and not under his control.
“Why didn’t you-“
Before she could finish her question she was met by Brise-Couer’s lips on hers. She tried to walk back in shock but he had a firm grip on her.
There were no sparks. Nothing like it was with Damian. It felt like dead, cold lips were against hers. Marinette shuddered.
After what felt like an eternity he pulled back leaving Marinette shaking and a mess.
“I’ve wanted to do that since M’lady told me I loved you.”
Marinette’s eyes widened in horror.
It all made sense. The disappearances, the conversation they had the day prior, even his personality...
Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir.
“I love you Princess.” He said pressing his lips back to hers.
Her senses were overloading, everything seemed to be screaming at her.
She tore away from the boy she used to know as Adrien.
“No…Get away from me!”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back with a snarl.
“I can’t have any nice things can I?! At least not without getting my hands dirty!” He screamed at her before thrusting his hand and tearing out Marinette’s heart. He began to squeeze it making Marinette feel weak all around. Everything was closing in on her. Her world started fading to black.
“I should break your heart like you broke mine,” He sneered, “But I love you too much.” He stopped. Marinette regained her breath and sight. “I’ll never hurt you Princess.” He said tracing her jawline. “Now...Tell me you love me.” He said holding up her heart to his mouth and briefly Marinette saw his eyes flash pink.
“I...I love you.” She said against herself. She grunted in pain, trying to become back in control of herself.
“Shhh. Stop fighting it Nette.” He whispered, pulling her in an embrace, “Just give in to me.”
Everything went dark.
~~~~~~~
Damian keeled over in an abandoned alley and started throwing up violently. He could only replay it over and over again as he heaved, Brise-Coeur making his Beloved bleed. He wondered...he wondered if she was dead by now.
“Damian.” He heard a voice called.
“Kid!” Exclaimed a second voice.
Damian breathed slowly, in and out, in and out. The only thing he could think was how much he wanted to kill Brise-Coeur.
“Kid whatever you’re thinking, stop it!”
Damian snapped his head up. In front of him were two small creatures. One black one with green eyes which resembled a cat and another red and black spotted one.
“What?! What are you?!” Damian scowled.
“I’m a kwami. Name’s Plagg, but right now there’s no time for that.” The cat looking one said, “Sugarcube, how’s your Bug doing?”
The red one sucked in a breath. “She won’t last like this. I can feel her slowly losing herself.”
“We have to act fast then…” Plagg said. “Ok kid, crash course. The ring you have in your hand, the one you picked up before you left that school, it’s a miraculous. It’s what Ladybug and Chat Noir use to become heroes. Your girlfriend, she’s Ladybug.”
“Plagg!” The Red kwami scolded.
“He was gonna figure it out sooner or later!” Plagg yelled, “Now the only reason I’m telling you this is because I know you’re Robin.” Damian raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t take a genius kid, and I’m a god. Anyway, I need you to wield the cat miraculous.”
“And why would I do that?!” Damian crossed his arms. Plagg sighed.
“Because you’re your girlfriend’s last hope. She gave you those earrings for a reason, she obviously trusts you. I’m not sure why, but that’s beside the point. You’ll need to keep those earrings, get her heart back and let her transform into Ladybug. She’ll take care of the akuma and this whole nightmare will be over.” Plagg rubbed his temples, “You won’t stand a chance going back in there without a miraculous.”
“Ok. Fine.” Damian said. Despite how ridiculous it sounded, if it saved Marinette he’d do it. “How do I use it?” Damian asked, sliding the ring on.
“First I need to tell you the important stuff. If you say ‘cataclysm’ the next thing you touch will be destroyed. It’s a one and done thing though so use it wisely, afterwards you’ll transform back in five minutes.”
“Ok what else?” Damian asked, growing impatient.
“Be careful,” the red kwami chimed in, “The miraculous doesn’t make you invincible although it might feel that way.”
“Great, not invincible. Anything else?!” Damian asked.
“To transform just say ‘claws out’.” Plagg said sharing a worried glance with the red kwami. Damian clutched the earrings in his hand.
“Claws out.”
In a blinding flash of green light Damian transformed. When the light disappeared he was in a full leather costume.
He had on black combat boots with dark green laces and wore a belt with green accents around his waist. Attached to his belt was an all black staff with a dark green paw print. His spandex suit reached all the way up to his neck in a turtleneck fashion. His black hair was slicked back two allow for two midnight cat ears on top of his head.
To finish it all off was a black domino mask that covered Damian’s eyes, a subtle nod to his Robin persona.
“I’m coming Beloved.”
~~~~~~
Brise-Coeur pulled open his drawstring pouch and placed Marinette’s heart in along with Alya and Nino’s. Marinette looked at him quizzically.
“Just a precaution princess. I don’t want anyone trying to take your heart.” Marinette nodded before giving him a blank stare.
“Hmm.” Brise-Coeur reopened the pouch and took out Marinette’s heart once more, “Relax.”
The tension left Marinette’s shoulders. On her face was a soft smile instead of the blank slate that was there before.
“I like you a lot more that way,” Brise-Coeur said returning her heart once more to the pouch, “Once Ladybug comes and I get her miraculous we can stay like this forever…”
A neon purple butterfly mask surrounded Brise-Coeur’s face.
“Don’t forget about Chat Noir, Brise-Coeur.” Hawkmoth spoke, “And I expect you don’t fail me. I’ve always had high hopes for you Adr- Brise-Coeur.”
“Chat Noir won’t be coming, Hawkmoth.” Brise-Coeur said as he threw his arm around Marinette. Alya and Nino stood next to him in anticipation before he waved them away to spend time with his Princess.
“What do you mean Brise-Coeur?!?!”
“Relax Hawkmoth, Chat Noir isn’t coming because I-“
A loud crash startled Brise-Coeur out of his conversation. His spoken connection to Hawkmoth broke due to his shock.
A figure a little shorter than Brise-Coeur emerged from the door that he had apparently broken. The boy who emerged, looking almost familiar, was wearing the cat miraculous Brise-Coeur realized. His blood boiled. It should’ve been him wearing that miraculous. Why did Adrien take it off?!
“Who are you?!” Brise-Coeur barked.
“Irrelevant,” The new cat holder said, “The only thing you need to know,” He said as he ran towards Brise-Coeur, “Is I am going to defeat you.” He unsheathed his staff that wasn’t even half as good as Chat Noir’s, Brise-Coeur thought bitterly, until he was blindsided by an attack from the new wielder. “But you may call me Kharaab if you wish.”
He pulled Brise-Coeur up from the ground by his suit. Despite the height difference Kharaab lifted Brise-Coeur above him with ease. Brise-Coeur felt his airway getting closed off from every second that Kharaab had his hand on his windpipe. He was almost surprised, even when Adrien had been Chat Noir he was never so violent. That raised another question to Brise-Coeur, who was the man behind the mask. Brise-Coeur cursed Adrien again for dropping the cat miraculous so carelessly.
“Give. Them. Their. Hearts. Back.” Kharaab hissed through gritted teeth.
Brise-Coeur felt Hawkmoth about to try to make a connection but before the villain could Brise-Coeur opened his pouch slightly and yelled with strained breathing due to Kharaab’s obscenely violent ways, “Protect me!”
Alya, Nino and Marinette converged on Kharaab. Nino and Alya pulled Brise-Coeur away from Kharaab and back to the ground while Marinette punched the newest wielder.
And boy did she pack a punch Brise-Coeur thought almost dreamily as Marinette made Kharaab wince and draw back in pain. Or at least, what Brise-Coeur assumed was pain.
“TT.” Kharaab said wiping the blood from his mouth, “Why are you sending your lackeys to do your dirty work? Can you not handle me?” Kharaab’s lips twisted into a smirk as Brise-Coeur ran at him with rage.
He ducked away gracefully sending Brise-Coeur forward at full momentum straight into a wall. Still dazed and trying to regain his balance (and pride) Brise-Coeur opened his pouch further and commanded his hearts. “Get him. Now!”
Kharaab watched as Brise-Coeur’s minions charged at him. Normally he would have no problem with taking them down, even though they were being controlled, but because Marinette was among their ranks he instead expertly hoisted his staff up and flung himself over Brise-Coeur’s victims.
He landed right next to Brise-Coeur, who was still dazed and punched him square in the face. Kharaab slipped his hand into the akuma’s pouch and slipped something into his utility belt before running away.
Kharaab went after Marinette. Alya and Nino were running full force towards him. He shoved them out of the way, hoping he didn’t give them permanent damage. Marinette was behind the couple who Kharaab had just pushed away. He ran towards her and suddenly picked her up, carrying her bridal style, and used his black staff once more to hoist himself above everything, only this time with Marinette in his arms. He scanned for the nearest open window and positioned the staff straight out of it.
“No!” Brise-Coeur roared as Kharaab and Marinette escaped, “Bring her back!” Brise-Coeur rummaged around in his pouch.
He only had two hearts left, Nino’s and Alya’s. Brise-Coeur growled and then screamed. He clenched his jaw and brought his last two hearts next to his mouth, “Find her.” He gritted his teeth. Alya and Nino left dutifully and scurried away in search of Marinette. “I’m going to grow my army.” Brise-Coeur whispered as he followed Nino and Alya out of DuPont. “I’m going to get my Princess back.”
An electric purple butterfly outline engulfed Brise-Coeur’s face, “Don’t forget to get me those miraculouses Brise-Coeur. You may have Marinette but I want Ladybug, wherever she is, and the new Chat Noir’s miraculouses.”
Brise-Coeur gritted his teeth, “Stop…Acting like my father. Don’t order me around. I will get them, Hawkmoth. But I’m getting my Princess first.”
He severed his connection with the old man.
~~~~~~
“This better work.” Damian grumbled as he took Marinette’s heart out of his utility belt. He sucked in a breath and then pushed it back into her chest with a deafening squish.
Marinette gasped and the life returned to her eyes.
“W-What happened?” She asked as she rubbed her temples. She looked up at Kharaab, “Who are you?! Where’s Chat Noir?!”
“Relax Angel.”
“Damian?” Marinette asked with wide eyes. “But how did you-“
“I found the ring on the floor in the middle of DuPont, I pocketed it during the akuma attack because I thought it might be important.” He chuckled dryly, “Guess I was right.”
“Adrien…” Marinette said as a lightbulb went off in her mind. Damian raised an eyebrow.
“I-I think Adrien is Chat Noir.”
“Plausible theory Beloved, but that’s not important right now. We need to defeat the akuma. But more importantly: I need to know...Are you okay?” He dodged her gaze.
Marinette softened, “Dove...I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me. Actually...I don’t really remember anything.”
“I remember everything…” he mumbled as the moment that Marinette’s heart was ripped out of her chest kept replaying in his mind.
“W-What was it like?” Marinette asked. Damian furrowed his brows. “I mean...I remember bits and pieces but did I...I didn’t hurt you did I?” She asked with growing horror encroaching onto her face.
Damian smirked. “No Angel, you didn’t. Now come on,” He said handing her the earrings. Marinette’s eyes widened, “Paris needs Ladybug I believe.”
Marinette fastened the earrings onto her ears, “How’d you find out?” She asked, hoping he wouldn’t be mad at her for keeping such a big secret from him.
“Your...kwami and Plagg revealed it to me.” Damian said, “It seemed to me there was no alternative. And don’t worry about your identity. I understand the importance of a secret identity, I won’t tell anyone.”
“I know Dami it’s just…”
Damian looked momentarily hurt, “Do...you not trust me?” Marinette softened.
“Of course I do shǎguā,” she smiled softly, “Its just I used to have this mentor, the Guardian, and he always told me that I wouldn’t be able to be Ladybug anymore if my identity got out.”
Panic flashed across Damian’s eyes. Marinette placed a hand on his arm.
“But he recently named me guardian. He’s gone now. I’m just still so used to keeping secrets even though I guess I don’t need to,” Marinette said.
“Well...I haven’t been completely honest either, but we need to get to work. If I’m right then at this very moment Brise-Coeur is trying to gather more lackeys for his army. It will be easier to take him out if he doesn’t gain as many hearts.”
Marinette shook her head. “Well we better get going then. Tikki, spots on!”
~~~~~~
Brise-Coeur picked up the pace to his next destination as all of those under his control searched Paris for Marinette. He rounded the bend to where he needed to be, the Agreste manor.
“Brise-Coeur, where are you going?!” Asked Hawkmoth as he established connection once more. Brise-Coeur gritted his teeth, “I’m bringing Nathalie Sancoeur and the Gorilla in to search for my Princess. I’m also going to pay a visit to my father.”
“Now Adri- Brise-Coeur,” Hawkmoth cleared his throat as panic invaded his voice, “Don’t be rash. Besides, with an akuma attack Gabriel Agreste will be protecting himself. He’s probably hiding as we speak.” Brise-Coeur narrowed his eyes at Hawkmoth’s nervous ramblings.
“Another reason for me to go find him,” he said with clenched fists, “My dear father has always kept himself protected and never cared about me. It’s bad enough mom died and broke my heart, but father stomped on it.” Brise-Coeur took a deep cleansing breath, “Now I can do the same to him.”
“No!” Hawkmoth yelled. Pain shot through Brise-Coeur’s body. He keeled over and groaned as he felt agony burn into his head. He writhed on the ground as Hawkmoth berated him, “You will get me my miraculouses and leave Mr. Agreste alone! Or I will take away your power! Do you understand Adri...Brise-Coeur.”
Brise-Coeur tugged on his hair as the pain continued to invade his body, “I-I understand Hawkmoth.”
“Good. Now go to the Eiffel Tower for the best vantage point, then you can find Ladybug and Kharaab.” With that, the butterfly outline faded from Brise-Coeur’s face along with the ache. He leapt across Paris, watching his minions look for Marinette, as he bounded above them. He finally made it to the tower and used his bo staff to hoist himself to the very top. He stepped onto the top and sat down on the railing. He looked out at Paris and began humming a familiar tune to himself while he thought about his Princess.
“Little kitty on a roof all alone without his…”
Off in the distance he saw a flash of blue. He stood up and his eyes widened as he tried to get a closer look at the figure who was fast approaching towards him.
“Could it be…” He wondered aloud as he craned his neck, hoping to see Marinette.
Instead he saw Ladybug and Kharaab headed straight for him. He unholstered his bo staff with a sigh and twirled it as the heroes approached.
“Brise-Coeur, we don’t have to do this,” Ladybug said as she walked towards him. Brise-Coeur clenched his fists and placed his bo staff into a fighting position. “But m’lady…” Marinette’s eyes widened, if her suspicions hadn’t been confirmed they were now. “I was only doing what you suggested.”
“What are you talking about?!” Marinette asked, trying to remember anything she’d told him as Ladybug, but then she remembered...The talk on the roof...the girl he had a crush on was her- well not Ladybug, but Marinette. He must’ve tried to ask her out, Marinette mused when she figured out the cause of his akumatization, and he must’ve seen her with Damian...she royally screwed up.
Marinette kicked herself mentally, she should’ve never told Chat about his crush. She shouldn’t have given him advice about his love life when she was Ladybug!
“It doesn’t matter Ladybug,” Brise-Coeur said sadly, “My Princess is gone.” His eyes flashed with anger as he looked at Kharaab who was at Ladybug’s side protectively, “You did this! Where’s Marinette, where’s my Princess?!”
“Like I’d tell you.” Kharaab spat. Ladybug glared at him.
“Fine. I’ll make you tell me.” Brise-Coeur grinned. He placed his staff in his belt again. He unattached his significantly larger pouch and opened the drawstrings as he brought it up to his mouth, that’s when Ladybug saw it.
Right next to where the pouch was before were red roses.
The akumatized object.
“Subjects!” Brise-Coeur boomed, “Stop focusing on Marinette, your new priority is to get to the Eiffel Tower to me and restrain Kharaab.”
“They won’t make it in time.” Kharaab sneered as he lunged for Brise-Coeur. The akuma expertly placed his pouch back on his belt and reached for his staff.
Kharaab started with a punch. Brise-Coeur dodged and brought his staff into his hands with a growl. Kharaab took out his staff as well.
“Lucky charm!”
So they started their dance. One boy would strike, the other would dodge. And the cycle repeated itself.
Ladybug looked around frantically trying to find how to use her lucky charm: a sewing machine. Ladybug gasped, in a flash it all came to her. She looked down at the crowd of Brise-Coeur’s army starting to use the stairs of the Effel tower. She gulped, he must’ve ripped out the hearts of almost a hundred people. Ladybug took a shaky breath and made quick eye contact with Kharaab. They already had a connection, one that couldn’t be severed. In that moment there were no masks, it was just Marinette giving Damian a look that said it would all be alright.
And Damian trusted her.
Ladybug quickly stood on the railing of the tower as the boys behind her fought.
She breathed deeply before jumping off. She imagined the panic in Kharaab’s eyes, but knew he trusted her plan. Ladybug quickly used her yo-yo to fling herself onto the level right below the dueling akuma and hero. She prayed that they’d be too immersed in battle and that Brise-Coeur’s minions were still at the bottom of the tower so they couldn’t see her.
She pulled out her lucky charm, the spotted sewing machine.
“Spots off,” She whispered. The sewing machine was a symbol for her alter ego, Marinette. She realized that in order to stop the madness she had to be Marinette, the one Brise-Coeur had fallen for.
“Are you sure about this, Marinette?” Tikki asked, the worry clear in the kwami’s eyes.
“It’s the only way Tikki.” Marinette sighed.
She ran up the steps of the tower back to the top where she had just been.
“Brise-Coeur!”
Both Kharaab and Brise-Coeur stopped their fighting immediately at hearing the sound of Marinette’s voice.
“Belov- Marinette, What are you doing here?!” Kharaab yelled. He gave her a look of disbelief, he hadn’t worked with her as a hero before but he couldn’t have predicted that she would’ve dropped her transformation of Ladybug. She couldn’t have been too far away either. Kharaab wouldn’t admit it but he was scared out of his mind, what if someone had seen her?! How could she be so reckless?
“I’ll stay with you if you stop trying to get the miraculouses. Hawkmoth can’t give you what you want.” Marinette said as she walked towards Brise-Coeur.
“Brise-Coeur, don’t listen to her, she’s lying!” Hawkmoth exclaimed.
“Mari…” Brise-Coeur said. He ran to meet her. He engulfed her in a hug for what felt like an eternity. Marinette was holding her breath, she only hoped he would listen to her. He finally broke away and started to cup her cheeks.
“I’m sorry Princess but I can’t do that.”
Marinette gasped, “No!”
“Yes! Brise-Coeur, now get Kharaab’s miraculous!” Hawkmoth yelled.
“No.” Brise-Coeur said. Kharaab ran towards him, seeing an opening, but Brise-Coeur quickly unholstered his staff and struck him, sending the cat hero off the Effel tower.
“Kharaab!” Marinette yelled as she tried to run to the railing to see him. Brise-Coeur grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. “I need Kharaab’s miraculous Mari, and Ladybug’s too. I won’t give them to Hawkmoth I promise, but I need to use it so we can start over and be in love.”
“You’re crazy, Brise-Coeur.” Marinette said, tears threatening to fall down her face. She broke free from his grip and ran to the railing.
“Brise-Coeur!” Hawkmoth screamed. “I can take away your power, don’t forget! Don’t try to disobey me.”
“Don’t try to tell me what to do!” Brise-Coeur roared. “I’ll use the miraculouses and then give them to you, got it?!”
“You’re not in the position to be making demands, Brise-Coeur. Get me the miraculouses first, then maybe I’ll consider giving them to you after I use them.”
“Fine.” Brise-Coeur said through gritted teeth. “Now, where’s that pail imitation of Chat Noir?!”
“This may have gotten out of hand Nathalie.” Gabriel groaned after severing his connection with his son. “Should I take back the akuma.”
“Gabriel, we’re so close.” Nathalie said as she strode towards him near the butterfly light. “You can finally get her back. Your son won’t fail you, I know it.”
“Yes but…” Hawkmoth rubbed his temples, “Should I have even akumatized him in the first place?”
“Do you not think he can do it? I can send out an amok.” Nathalie said, preparing to place the newly fixed brooch to her shirt.
“It’s not that…” Gabriel sighed, “Besides, we don’t know if the peacock Miraculous is fixed yet, we can try a different day. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“What’s the problem then, sir?” Nathalie asked with feigned patience.
“It shouldn’t have gotten to the point where I akumatized my own son…” Gabriel said, “Would Emilie have wanted this?”
“With all due respect sir, get your head back in the game. We did not put all this effort in to simply give up. When she gets back she will be grateful. Maybe you can erase this whole thing, nobody will remember Hawkmoth at all and the Agrestes can be happy again.”
“I’ll always remember what I did to my son though...The one who makes the wish doesn’t forget, did you not remember that Nathalie?!” Gabriel yelled. Nathalie’s expression remained emotionless.
“I’ll make the wish then sir. You won’t remember a thing.”
“You’d...you’d do that for me Nathalie?”
“I’d do anything for you sir.”
“Brise-Coeur,” Hawkmoth said. “Get me their miraculouses.”
~~~~~~
“Damian…” Marinette whispered softly as she looked over the ledge of the Effel tower. Kharaab was nowhere to be seen. Her brain was going into overload, she could only assume the worst.
“Princess!” Brise-Coeur exclaimed while he beamed and skipped towards her. “Do you know where Ladybug went. I know I sent that dumb cat off the tower, my army probably already got his miraculous, but I’m still missing Ladybug’s.”
“Brise-Coeur,” Marinette said, fluttering her eyelashes, “Could you do me a favor?”
“I’d do anything for you Mari.”
“O-oh. C-could you maybe get Kharaab back?” Marinette asked shyly. She couldn’t process anything for a second after Brise-Coeur had confessed.
“Why?” Brise-Coeur asked with narrowed eyes.
“W-well because I...Well if you get him back up here he can probably tell you where Ladybug is! Yeah! Where Ladybug is…” Marinette rambled.
Brise-Coeur smiled and threw an arm around her shoulder. “You’re so clever, that’s one of the reasons I love you Princess.” Marinette hid her horrified expression with a weak smile.
“Bring Kharaab to me!” Brise-Coeur boomed into his pouch of hearts. Marinette leaned closer to him. If only she could just reach…
“He’ll be up soon Princess,” Brise-Coeur said before closing his pouch making Marinette deflate, “Then he’ll tell us where Ladybug is and I can get her miraculous too and we’ll live happily ever after!”
Brise-Coeur picked up Marinette and carried her bridal style to the railing and sat down, making Marinette sit almost on his lap. She started to shake, partly from the height, partly from the danger Damian was in, and from the entire akuma.
The whole thing was a nightmare…
“Don’t worry Princess,” Brise-Coeur said rubbing her shoulders as he must’ve noticed her fear, “I promise I won’t let you fall.”
“Brise-Coeur.”
Brise-Coeur whipped his head backwards and relaxed. He lifted Marinette off the railing and back on the platform of the tower. He joined her straight after.
Marinette resisted the urge to throw up.
Kim, Alya, Nino and Alix were all holding Kharaab with dazed looks on their faces, under Brise-Coeur’s control.
Damian had his eyes closed and blood running down from his lips to his neck. He had a gigantic bruise on his cheek and a scar on his forehead just where his hairline ended.
Marinette winced, she has sparred with Damian couldn’t ignore that he had talent, but he, just like she wouldn’t, be able to take on a hundred or so soldiers with nothing to lose. Even with his new super suit, which he didn’t really know how to use Marinette realized, he didn’t stand a chance.
Marinette resisted the urge to cry.
“Why didn’t you take off his miraculous?!” Brise-Coeur barked.
“You didn’t tell us to.” Kim responded blankly.
“Morons!” Brise-Coeur shouted, “Fine, it’s true what they say: If you want something done right you have to do it yourself.”
He began walking towards the beaten up and unconscious Kharaab. He picked up Kharaab’s hand and touched the ring ready to remove it until-
“Wait!” Marinette shouted. She ran over to Brise-Coeur. Suddenly pink dots flooded her vision, she saw polka dots on Brise-Coeur’s hand, which was still on Kharaab’s.
“What?” Brise-Coeur asked with less patience.
“Will you...hold my hand?” Marinette asked. It was a flimsy and odd request but she hoped Brise-Coeur would comply.
“Of course Princess.” Brise-Coeur smiled. He didn’t take his hand off Kharaab’s ring, instead he simply placed his other hand in Marinette’s. Marinette frowned before getting a new idea. She leaned in closer to him. She briefly saw Kharaab’s eyes start to open. She hoped Damian would forgive her…
Marinette crooked her neck and moved her lips closer to Brise-Coeur’s. The akuma closed his eyes and started moving his own lips towards hers. He pressed his lips onto hers.
Marinette leaned in, prolonging the kiss so she could use her free hand. She brought her free hand to the flowers fastened to Brise-Coeur’s belt and ripped them off.
She pulled back from the kiss and ran away. Brise-Coeur bolted to her.
“How could you Princess?!” He screamed, “I trusted you.”
Marinette looked all around and found no exit, there would be no way to transform into Ladybug with prying eyes. She couldn’t destroy the flowers unless she wanted more Brise-Coeurs, and she most certainly did not.
She felt him gain on her until she realized she had been scooped up.
Kharaab had woken up just in time. He had broken free from Brise-Coeur’s minions’ grasp to carry Marinette and leap to the level below them. He continued to jump across Paris and run across rooftops, still severely injured, with Marinette in his arms until he lost Brise-Coeur, who did not have the speed or navigational skills as Kharaab.
When they were finally away from the chaos, Damian put Marinette down and winced.
“I’m sorry Dove, are you okay?” Marinette asked with teary eyes.
“Don’t worry about me Beloved. Just transform and end this nightmare. You’re...magic fixes things anyway, right?” Marinette nodded. She opened her purse and pulled a macaroon from her pocket.
“Eat quickly Tikki, Brise-Coeur and his army could catch up any second.” Tikki took a large bite out of the cookie and gulped.
“Just that bite was fine Marinette. Now hurry!” Marinette knew Tikki could’ve eaten more and if she wasn’t so afraid she would’ve let the kwami eat more, but there wasn’t time.
“Spots on.” A blinding flash. “Lucky charm!” A pair of scissors.
“Hmm, useful.” Kharaab mused. Ladybug gave him a small smile and then cut the flowers in half.
A black butterfly emerged. “No more evil doing for you little akuma.” Ladybug said before capturing it and purifying it. She opened her yo-yo to let a white butterfly out.
Ladybug thrust her scissors into the air, “Miraculous Ladybug!”
Tiny ladybugs surrounded Paris repairing all the damage that was done. Ladybug sighed in relief as Kharaab’s injuries disappeared.
“I’ve been through worse.” Damian said easing Marinette’s fears and guilt slightly. She took a deep breath in and then used her yo-yo to pull him closer. She cupped his face with one hand...and then slapped him with the other.
“What were you thinking?!” She scolded, “You could’ve gotten seriously hurt or worse. You’ve never used a miraculous before! And it’s not like you fight crime every night like me!”
“Oh, yeah? Maybe I do!” Damian folded his arms.
Marinette just stared at him, and then it hit her, “Oh my g-”
“I should’ve known you were a hero just like me, beloved. You are certainly clever and strong enough for it. That being said, you were berating me, but what about that stunt you pulled earlier?! Anyone could’ve seen you detransform! Not only that, but the akuma could’ve taken your heart again!” Damian flicked Marinette’s forehead. She crossed her arms and pouted.
“I would’ve been fine…” She grumbled, “But don’t think you can get out of this! Exactly when were you going to tell me you were a superhero?!”
“Vigilante,” Damian corrected, “When were you going to tell me you were Ladybug?”
“Ok good point...But if you’re a vigilante and you’re not magic...Damian Wayne! Were you fighting crime without powers?!” Ladybug hissed
“Say my name any louder could ya?!” Kharaab whisper-shouted, “And yes I was. There is a lot you don’t know about me, beloved. I am a master in combat.”
“Right that’s why I beat you everytime we spar.” Ladybug said with a raised brow. A stifled chuckle emitted from behind them.
Damian and Marinette whipped their heads around to see two men, one in black and blue and the other in a leather jacket and red helmet.
“Hey don’t stop on our account!” Said the blue one.
“Yeah this is fucking hilarous. You guys bicker like a married couple.”
“Todd, Grayson?! What are you doing here?” Damian demanded.
Marinette cocked her head to the side. “Wait a second...Your brothers are Red Hood and Nightwing, and you’re a vigilante and oh my god you’re Robin.”
“Nice Pixie-Pop! Also I like your costume, but don’t think we aren’t gonna talk about the fact that you are a magical superheroine.” Jason said.
“You are insufferable! How long were you here without helping?” Damian screeched.
“B called us in a while ago, we got here a couple minutes before you defeated the akuma thingy. You seemed like you had it under control.” Jason shrugged while reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bag of chips.
Damian huffed, “We handled it. No thanks to you.”
This time Dick stepped in, “Anything we can help you out with now?”
“We don’t need you-”
“Yes actually,” Marinette interrupted, “Can you check up on the brainwashed individuals. Oh! Lila Rossi and Chloe Bourgeois too, they were...killed during the attack, but my cure should’ve reversed it.”
“Sure thing Pixie-Pop. Nightwing and Red Hood are on it!” Jason saluted before placing his helmet back on and grappling off the building with Dick.
“We could’ve handled it ourselves.” Damian all but pouted. Marinette rolled her eyes,
“We have to check in on Adrien. Come on Dove.”
“Fine.” Kharaab groaned before following Ladybug back to where Brise-Coeur had been.
It didn’t take them long to find Adrien. He was sprawled out on a nearby rooftop with tears in his eyes.
When he saw the heroes he immediatly stood up.
“Ladybug! I’m so sorry!” He sobbed as he ran into her arms.
“I know, Adrien. It’s not your fault.” She said soothing him with a hug. “But we need to talk.”
~~~~~~
“Adrien,” Ladybug said when the three of them were in a private place. “I know that you were Chat Noir.”
Adrien deflated. “No…” He sighed. “Listen Ladybug, I understand. I know what I did was horrible. Honestly, I think I would’ve given you back the black cat miraculous when this was over anyway. I’m not fit to wear it…”
“Adrien Agreste, you were a great holder, but you’re right, I can’t give this back to you. I can however tell you what I told Chloe, and I know you’ll listen unlike her, if you try to be a hero in your daily life as Adrien you can become the person you want to be. I won’t make any promises, but I can tell you that when I think you’re ready I will try you out as a temporary holder, deal?”
“Oh thank you Ladybug.” Adrien cried. He turned to face Kharaab, “Listen...I know you’ll be a great holder even if I don’t know you yet, but...will you tell Plagg goodbye and that...I’ll miss him?”
Kharaab gave him a curt nod. Ladybug gave Adrien a small smile.
“Oh my gosh! Marinette! Is she okay?!” Adrien panicked.
“She’s fine Adrien, I promise.”
“Oh my gosh she’ll never forgive me. I-I have to go talk to her!”
“Adrien!” Ladybug called before he ran off, “She’ll forgive I’m sure, just maybe...give her today. You can talk to her tomorrow, right? I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Adrien nodded before walking away. Ladybug hoped to herself that when she saw him next he’d be ready to change. She had faith in him.
“Why did you do that?” Kharaab asked. Marinette turned to face him.
“What?” She asked.
“Forgive him.”
“Akumas are different, Damian. He can’t help his emotions. The only person I can’t forgive is Hawkmoth, he’s taking advantage of innocent people.” Marinette responded.
“You’re right, I suppose.” Damian said, “With the help of my father’s equipment I think I can help you find him- Hawkmoth that is- I mean...If you’ll let me.”
“I’d love that Damian, thank you.” Marinette said before laughing to herself, “I’m actually glad you know about Ladybug now. I felt like I was holding a part of myself back from you and...I’m just relieved to have no more secrets between us.”
“As am I Beloved,” Damian said, “In a way, I suppose we owe this to Agreste.”
Marinette giggled, “Yeah I guess we do.”
“Now should we find my idiotic brothers before they blow something up?”
“How romantic,” Marinette fake swooned, “You really know how to charm a girl.”
“I know you’re being sarcastic, but I’m taking the compliment because it’s true.”
Marinette smiled at him endearingly, “Yes, it is. Now shall we go, Casanova?” Ladybug extended an arm.
Damian took it, “We shall, Beloved.”
~~~~~~
Adrien would be lying if he said it didn’t hurt everytime he passed by Marinette and saw Damian with her.
He would be lying if he said he didn't love her just a bit.
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t remorseful for everything he had done, even if most people could hardly recall it.
Everytime he passed by Lila or Chloe he’d get a chill down his spine and see flashes of what he’d done.
But in the end he knew his past didn’t define him, because his past was not today.
~~~~~~
Anyone get the reference from the last line? Thought it was fitting!
Taglist:
@northernbluetongue
@queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm
@luciferge
@legendaryneckjudgestudent
@interobanginyourmom
@beaversuenightly
@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry
@mochinek0
@shamefullove
@emjrabbitwolf
@actual-disaster-human
@littleredrobinhoodlum
@elijahcoser
@daminett4life
@18-fandoms-unite-08
@kawaiigiantjudgefish
@myazael
@kass-is-weird
@dramatic-squirrel
@novicevoice
@abrx2002
@corabeth11
@mochegato
@the-fusionist
@lesscoolloki
@aegyobutpsycho2
@spiritofchaoticdreams
@shizukiryuu
@luleck
@moonystars14
@fusser90
@magic-miraculous
@loysydark
@mandy984
@redscarlet95
@captainmac6
@animegirlweeb
#maribat#damianette#ahhhhhhhhhhhh im so glad its done#i really hope yall like it cuz it took me forever
442 notes
·
View notes
Text
“Porter sur toi un nouveau regard”: basic outlines and preparatory notes
What better way to celebrate a fic being completed than me releasing some of the basic notes I took while planning it? Here they are, with a few additions.
It all started as a prompt I got on Discord, the very simple “love at first sight” and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it at first, but the idea of sight stuck with me. Are your first impressions the right ones? Can you learn to see someone a certain way or another? It’s ultimately a story about learning to see other people and yourself, isn’t it?
Which meant I had to take a certain point of view, because an omniscient floating eye is emotionally detached. Character POV may have a limited scope, but that may help empathise with them. This is a story about Kagami, so it was only fair for Kagami to be the centre of it.
Chapter 1:
“How does Kagami truly feel about Marinette before Ikari Gozen”?
While Marinette sees the two of them as rivals, that rivalry is one-sided, and Kagami wouldn’t take that girl seriously. She’s simply annoying.
Kagami is a lonely character, who genuinely wants to make friends, still, and she’s anything but cool or smooth. She doesn’t know the other characters the way the audience does, at all.
Tomoe Tsurugi sucks.
Switching from “Dupain-Cheng” to “Marinette Dupain-Cheng” to “Marinette” would be a nice way to keep the reader hooked. Lots of tiny details that’ll come back later on!
Comphet.
Lots of comphet already. What you “should” like, a calculated, conscious choice.
A few jabs at the show because why not.
Chapter 2:
Filling gaps in characterisation and timeline to make sure that everything hurts later on! Including pre-Adrigami. People thought the paperwork between Tomoe and Gabriel was a marriage contract, not quite, but an arranged relationship? Definitely from Tomoe’s side.
Are Kagami and Marinette already going on dates when they visit the city together all on their own? Isn’t that the true sapphic experience.
Also, the promise of them going to the terrace rooftop on sunny days! It’ll come back later on.
The Bike Motive. Marinette driving her forward.
“Your hair is beautiful” but make it much gayer.
I hate the André scene in the finale, it sucks and it’s awful for everyone. It should be awful for both Marinette and Kagami. Comphet. So much comphet.
Kagami’s impression of brokenness is something we’ll come back to over and over again.
Adrien doesn’t notice because he’s Adrien. The kiss. Nothing.
“K-Kagami!” End with a cliffhanger for more suffering.
As a side note, I made myself cry writing this chapter.
Chapter 3:
Everything hurts. Everything. Hurts.
Identity reveals don’t solve anything, they still fail, and Marinette still isn’t willing to show herself to Kagami, still hiding behind a facade.
Just because Marinette understands things a little better doesn’t mean it hurts any less
They are both lying to each other and themselves and they don’t even realise it.
“Fixing the brokenness” through comphet.
Nothing is solved at all.
Falling asleep on a chaise longue plus blanket
Chapter 4:
Life as a socialite in Paris, concerts and restaurants, wearing clothes she hasn’t chosen
The Adrien routine, pulling chairs and flowers
It’s all miserable still, lots of “shoulds”
Fencing competition, fencing competition ahead. Tomoe is a terrible parent and a terrible coach.
Text conversations with Marinette, overdoes joy with emojis
The Bike Motive Returns, with more feelings, Marinette’s almost desperate gestures
(Kagami as the only person she can fully confide in, but still won’t)
An early birthday present… But Kagami is born in November, Marinette is a mess and so is her room.
Hug and first hint of reciprocated Marigami? Just the happiness of having someone like Kagami who admires her work as Marinette.
Falling asleep on a chaise longue plus blanket, part deux.
KAGAMI IN A SUIT!!!
Kisses on the cheek are really common in France, not Japan. A heavy kiss.
Dress or suit?
Marinette is a mess, texts at night. Difference between Adrien and Marinette’s texts, Adrien’s more self-centred.
No sense of space in Tokyo, jet lag and closed house. Closed spaces.
Chapter 5:
I’m going to write a full chapter about sabre fencing and people will love it
Lots of sneaky (or not so sneaky) GL and Yuri manga/anime references. Make Juri Arisugawa part of the Jury.
All the locations are real
Marinette overdoes it again, Kagami can’t tell.
Kagami’s technique dissecting her opponents. She is a champion already.
Teach the readers about fencing whilst describing it. Have opponents be challenging in specific, understandable ways.
She chooses the suit. What even is subtlety.
As a side note: it was a really fun one to write.
Chapter 6:
Marinette internship phone call, Nathalie’s plan. No way Gabriel would accept to work with a kid. Flirting, Kagami as a muse?
The Foucault chapter. Everything is a prison. Restaurant, vertical stripes on wall as prison bars, the relationship, the self-locking car. This is no Utena car.
Everything is wrong, including the food
Adrigami friendship, much better than Adrigami romance. Rose/Chair. She doesn’t hate him at all, she just doesn’t love him… It wouldn’t work, she’s gay and he’s a liar.
Self-imposed gestures of affection.
Do not describe the kisses, they’re just a thing she has to do
Marinette is a mess, Ladybug is a mess, hell imagery, falling down a hole, almost dying. We are in the car with Kagami and we want to do something, anything, and we can’t.
Chapter 7:
The first step to things being alright again is to admit that they aren’t alright now
Nighttime conversation, Kagami letting Ladybug in
Marinette finally showing herself bare to Kagami but still tries not to until the dam breaks. Being a hero is miserable. Being the Guardian when you are a child with no guidance or support is miserable. Kagami as the only person she can trust.
Botched Lukanette date?
“I’m just so tired.”
“You are not a failure, you are so courageous, a genius fashion designer and my best friend”
(Additional note: I cried writing that passage)
Sharing the burden: help in more than just words.
“I hate that you have to see me like that.”
But showing your vulnerability and still being accepted as true love
Kagami truly sees Marinette now.
“Tutorship” and Tomoe being awful but excuse works. Help is material, homework, tidying up the room together.
“Stop feeling guilty about letting other people help you.”
Flirting hidden behind jokes, Kagami lying to herself. Way to ruin the mood.
Marigami baking.
Harlem 88, postal workers, acab
Watching television on the same couch, or rather watching Marinette watch television.
Umbrella scene with polka dots.
Kagami fully aware of her feeling and afraid of them, afraid that Marinette might feel the same
Chapter 8:
more fencing, Kagami absolutely rules
Worrying about Marinette alone with Gabriel, rightfully so, but can’t say that out loud
Stereotypical outdated Japanese-ness, Kagami can’t conform, doesn’t know how to put on her houmongi on her own. Tomoe and paradoxes, her daughter is both weak and “too muscular” at the same time.
The Palais Royal. The Buren columns are very climbable.
Gabriel, “quite miraculous”. Testing the waters, Kagami doesn’t notice.
Jealousy when Adrien speaks of Marinette?
Ratatouille reference! Tatou.
Tomoe playing the role of the exotic Japanese to be accepted.
Drunk parents, drunk on power and self-satisfaction.
Adrien’s kiss, forced to return it.
Fear that Adrien might become Marinette’s muse
The bike motive once more
Barkk’s power is tracking magical signatures, each is different from the other
Marinette taking control over her own life, making plans to stop Hawk Moth instead of passively waiting for each attack,
“She was never broken. She is in love with another girl.”
Marinette is in love with her too, but is ready to wait.
Chapter 9:
Adrien IS Chat Noir, up to the entitlement and his way of being physically affectionate. Stay true to canon and canon implications.
Adrigami/DJWifi double date, Alya means well but doesn’t know everything
Wordbuilding: of course the Ladyblog isn’t the only website ever, bad rival, Daily Bugle pun.
Not hating someone doesn’t mean you should be with them.
Hints of Adrigami friendship again, relief at avoiding romance.
Food at Kagami’s, cooker, formally perfect but not personal
Marinette and Barkk, closer to their goal
The Turtle Pearl bracelet: a shield, a great way to show feeling of danger, symbol of love
Kagami is the one to kiss Marinette on the cheek this time
Chapter 10:
Tomoe is a bad instructor episode 100
In which Adrien proves himself to truly be also Chat Noir, i.e. unable to understand personal barriers and entitlement. Still Kagami’s POV. He doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong, insistence≠playfulness. certainly won’t apologise
The bike motive again. Scenic road and conversation
Going to Orsay, definitely a date!
Chat Noir was moody during akuma crisis because of course he was.
Chapter 11:
Adrigami “break”, Adrien sucks at admitting that he’s anything but perfect and being confronted with that.
Kagami bluntness.
Adrigami isn’t about Adrigami, it’s about the Tsurugi family’s status and Tomoe terrified of consequences. Attacking the room instead of Kagami herself.
The Turtle Pearl glows when wearer feels endangered or imminent danger
The museum pictures, the two of them together
Aquarium date?
“Voice of reason” isn’t the voice of reason at all.
Barkk is in the bag, smells everything
Chapter 12:
Kagami as Tomoe’s messenger
Agreste mansion as a mausoleum, setting up the geography, security cameras, cold. Painting of Émilie, goal is near
Nathalie being extremely good at pretending she didn’t just knock that kid unconscious months ago, she’s awful and it’s great.
Marinette internship, Gabriel wears a bowtie… Resembles a butterfly.
Barkk in the bag, smells everything.
Stressful phone call, feels feverish, it’s him and that’s undeniable.
Marinette the detective.
“Thanks for being there for me”
“Thank you for trusting me so much”
Having dinner with Hawk Moth, it’s awful and stressful
No more chair/rose
Adrien is miserable but not aggressive. Building up to final fight
Chapter 13:
Meet the Dupain-Chengs, short, awkward, sweet moment
Marinette’s room, perfectly clean
From creepy stalker to detective, without downplaying the former or overplaying the latter
The two are complementary, very concrete things,
The plan: catch Hawk Moth red-handed, take it outside and expose him to the world
How the Kwami Pearls work: just like the Miraculouses themselves, feeding off the host, only more brutal. Marinette trying to reassure Kagami
Re-explain Turtle Pearl and other powers, illusion, thunder, time-rewind and portal
Gabriel owns original Degas painting since they are both assholes
Adrien/Chat still not great at all
Ice-cream but no biphobia/lesbophobia this time, just a regular shop suggested by Juleka.
The Pont des Arts, no more locks, just like in real life.
The confession, the kiss: consent and everything is right, but also desperate. Marinette really wants to do it well.
Longg is back, also, hype
Side note: I cried writing this one.
Chapters 14-15
Ryuko infiltrating the mansion, all in the details
I hate that Hawk Moth’s lair is an actual real physical space in the show, but if this needs to be material, then so be it. He was allowed to turn his house into that because he got help from the Mayor/Audrey.
Chat Noir can’t fight, near breakdown.
Nathalie knew. Remake of first fight, only Ryuko has clear upper hand.
Having missiles in your house isn’t a good idea.
The Turtle Pearl serves its purpose at last,
Gabriel mostly defeats himself on his own, hubris, the whole extent of his power dynamic with Nathalie
Going back to the Champ de Mars,
Teamwork, taking the butterfly down. Chat Noir rejects his father entirely, cataclysm-ed akuma.
The mansion again, entirely destroyed, paintings of Émilie burning. Spell book and tablet recovered.
Chapter 16:
Taking the big bad down is useless if you don’t take down the power structures that allowed him to strive in the first place. Killing Voldemort only solves that much.
Discovering it all on a phone screen, shut-in
ACAB no matter your gender
They are just following orders and happy to do so, and Gabriel still has some power over them
Tomoe plays by the rules, even though these rules are awful
Kagami’s anger
Chapter 17:
Aquarium date, aquarium date! Fish facts
Kagami’s anger still, doesn’t die out, render it through environment and senses
Water as a healing motive, fish facts
Hot outside - cold inside, ice-cream
Kagami nearly blows out because of kids after being slightly soothed
The power of love is strong but it can’t solve everything.
Additional note: someone in the comments asked me if Kagami had ASD, and the answer is, I don’t know, you tell me! If you think she is on the spectrum, then she is!
Addressing Kagami being closeted, because there’s simply no other way. This isn’t good. Having to live hidden out of fear isn’t good..
The bike motive, + ice cream
Kagami uses the word “lesbian” for the first time to describe her own experience.
Chapter 18:
Tomoe has feelings and these feelings suck. Under the guise of rules, abuse.
Kagami fighting back.
Power is material, through connections and money, nothing that can’t be bought
Kagami’s first demonstration, don’t make it too violent but still ACAB
Nino and Alya as reporters, Julerose and Luka seasoned protestors
The Palais de Justice’s gilded gates are closed vs the crowd
Marinette using her powers for something other than Hawk Moth, strong stance but also still a 15 yo kid’s understanding of the situation
Chapters 19-20:
No tanabata because Tomoe is terrible
The rooftop terrace at last, more Marigami wholesomeness
Dupain-Cheng house vs Tsurugi house, the furniture and dishes, the meal, more Tom and Sabine
Marinette has been cut from her Chinese heritage, exploring that (callback to Mandarin app, chapter 1) and bitterness of it
Adrien moving on in England, still Plagg with him, he’ll become a rich prep boy
Marinette as a Guardians, her own spell book
Duusuu is devouring Émilie’s soul and neither Marinette nor Kagami knows
Françoise Dupont at night, fencing classes, Marinette moves like Ladybug
The future: it is bright but bittersweet, let’s talk about it together
And there was only one bed
Oh, to cuddle with your girlfriend in her bed for the first time
Watching the sun rise together, calm breakfast
Side note: I also cried writing this one.
Chapter 21, epilogue
A new beginning
Kagami turning her back on her mother almost entirely
The bike motive, but Kagami no longer needs Marinette to show her the way now
New school, familiar faces but not only
An ordinary bracelet for Marinette, but proof of love despite everything
End on their hands.
24 notes
·
View notes
Text
Seeing Green Ch.3
Well, here we go guys, a double chapter in one. I would like to thank everyone for having patience with me.
[[MORE]]
Marinette smiled to herself after her date with Damian. It had been so wonderful, he was wonderful, a perfect gentleman. His smile had sent her heart fluttering, something that hadn't been accomplished since… Since Adrien.
Mari's smile dimmed slightly, but she shook her head. No! Adrien would not ruin this for her. At least this guy, this wonderful, handsome guy had an actual romantic interest in her. It would be different, she wouldn't be chasing a dream, she'd be chasing a reality, something within her reach.
"Tikki, I think I want to go out for a bit. Clear my head before bed. That date with Damian… I'm a bit restless now." Marinette stretched, now dressed in comfortable pajamas. The teen headed to her hotel room window and opened it. She winked at her Kwami. "Alright, Tikki, Spots on!"
As Ladybug leapt into the night, pulling herself to a ledge cross from her room. She knew she shouldn't be Ladybug, not in Gotham, as she should be in Paris, but it just felt so odd not to be out on patrol. She thanked whatever god there was that she had gotten Viperion and Ryuko back on as full time heroes. It had made her stress of leaving Paris on this trip a little less stressful, and having Klaaki helped when she had to purify the akumas.
As she landed on the rooftop, she barely avoided landing in some kind of white substance on the ledge. She frowned at it, silently noting that this must be a popular place for birds, before she took that moment to step onto the center of the roof and take in the city. It was such a condensed place, full of tall buildings, of noisy cars and pollution. It was worlds away from Paris.
So lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't hear the sound of someone landing on the roof behind her. She turned and spotted a red and black caped figure. Her brows rose as she realized that this was one of Gotham's vigilantes. She wracked her brain right quick, and a name came to mind; Red Robin.
"Can I help you with something?" He began advancing towards her, and Ladybug's defenses went up. Shit, she wasn't supposed to be spotted. His frown was more evident as he drew near, crossing his arms. "I don't think I've ever seen you around Gotham before."
"Please, I… I am friendly. I just came to America for a small vacation." Marinette groaned mentally at the lie as she held her hands up, showing she wasn't armed. But she could see he had weapons on him, and that made the hairs on the back of her head stand on end. She could probably take him in a fight, but she didn't want to risk hurting one of Batman's partners, especially since he was part of the Justice League. Whether they believed her situation in Paris or not, she still needed some help. "A- and to speak to Monsieur Batman. I am Ladybug, a hero from Paris. We really need help, things are getting out of hand!"
"What do you mean? What's going on in Paris?" He was silent the entire time Ladybug spoke, explaining in detail what had been going on for the past few years. She could feel as Red Robin glanced her over, calculating something. He then tilted his head, as if listening to something, before he uncrossed his arms and they dropped to his sides. "Well, Ladybug, while that tale seems hard to believe… Batman will meet you here tomorrow. If you get up to any funny business, we won't hesitate to take you out, understand?"
"Oui, Monsieur. Merci." Ladybug's shoulders sagged in relief. It had been a split minute cover story, but now it had probably given her the opening she had so desperately needed. She smiled at him, and he brushed past her, heading towards the ledge facing the hotel. "Oh, be careful! I think some birds made a mess there, you wouldn't want to step in it!"
Red Robin froze and glanced down at where he was about to step. He stared for what felt like several minutes, before he tensed and let out a curse that made Ladybug flush. He knelt down, holding what she saw was a cotton swag, swiping up some of the substance, then putting it in a glass vial attached to his belt. Without another glance back at her, he was gone, leaving Ladybug standing there, very confused. With a shake of her head, she turned around and went back to soaring across Gotham with her yo-yo.
…
Nino frowned as he watched his girlfriend sitting across the table from him. He had wanted a nice dinner with her, at the hotel's restaurant, but here she was, either typing away on her cell phone, or telling him about something new Lila had told her. He felt himself getting a headache. It was just non stop with his girlfriend and Lila, the world never seemed to go still, it was constantly in this spiralling vortex.
"I mean, I can't believe she's help Batman! THE Batman!" Alya exclaimed, her eyes lit up with excitement and eagerness, as she finished posting the story on the Ladyblog. She didn't notice Nino's blank look as she squirmed in her seat, beaming. "Imagine helping in take down Two Face in such a way, Nino! She's so awesome, I just can't believe she chose me to be her best friend! I mean, she could have chosen anyone, but she chose me! She's even going to let me do another interview with her tonight, about the time she got all streamy in a hot tub with Damian and his brother Tim…"
"Alya, babe… Can you please put the phone away? I wanted to have a nice dinner with you, it's been forever since we had a nice date." Nino reached out and took her free hand, giving it a light squeeze. Alya gave him a warm smile and set her phone aside, and they both glanced at their menus. "See anything you'd like?"
"Oh, steak frites would be nice. Did you know Lila has an uncle who runs a farm that gives every high end restaurant their meat? She's met all of the world famous chefs, maybe next time she can get us into a fancy restaurant for another date!" Alya grinned at Nino, who felt his headache worsen. They rarely had alone time together, but even when they did, Lila always seemed to somehow come up, whether it be in conversation or her calling them in the middle of the date.
"I think we can manage without Lila, babe. I think the salmon would be nice." Nino looked up from his menu, only to see Alya back on her phone, hearing the notifications dinging frantically. "Babe, your phone.."
"Hold on, Nino, Lila's just telling me that Damian's going to take her to a high class party tomorrow night! She's sooo lucky, having him take her to the fanciest restaurant in Gotham."
"Alya, can we-"
"Do you think maybe she'll introduce us to him? I'd love to get an interview with THE son of Bruce Wayne! I'd be the first to get his photo, the Ladyblog would blow up on a national level!"
"Alya-"
"Maybe I could get interviews from.the entire Wayne family! And when her and Damian get married, Lila will let me cover their wedding-"
"ALYA, ENOUGH ABOUT LILA!"
A pin dropping could have been heard in that restaurant. Nino had jumped to his feet and trembled with visible annoyance, while Alya sat there, clutching her phone tightly in her hands. She frowned and opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Nino stormed out of the dining room, leaving its patrons staring in his wake.
Once out of the dining room, Nino felt like crying. He had planned a nice evening, he had combed his hair back, had dressed up nicely, but it still wasn't enough. He didn't feel like enough for Alya anymore. She always seemed to be grasping for whatever big and shiny thing came next, whatever would make the most tantalizing news story.
He soon came into the bar area, leading to the hotel lobby, when he spotted Miss Bourbon. She was sitting at a table, nursing a glass of wine as she looked miserable. He hesitated, telling himself to continue back to his room, to cool off. He had never actually talked to the TA personally, but he thought she seemed nice, though very tough. He had felt bad when Lila had told Alya that the woman had been trying to escape Canada, to escape a scandal with sleeping one of her male students. Boy, that rumour had spiralled out of control and had nearly cost the woman her job, but soon seemed improbable when it was found out she worked at an all girl's academy.
Nino found himself walking over to her, meeting her inhumanly purple eyes as he took a seat across the table from her as she sipped her wine.
"Mr. Lahiffe, is everything alright? You seem rather miffed." Eva set down her glass of wine and sat to attention. It sort of surprised Nino at how quick she was to come to his aid, that she actually did care, despite the poison Lila had spread. He clenched his hands ever so slightly, looking down at the table, frowning. "Nino?"
"Miss Bourbon… You know Lila is lying, right? I've known for a long time, but she made Alya so happy, but when things got out of hand and I tried suggesting things might be false…" Nino shut his eyes tightly, letting out a shuddering breath. "I don't recognize my girlfriend anymore. I'm just so drained all the time, and I feel like my thoughts and interests don't matter anymore."
He opened his eyes again, when he felt Miss Bourbon take his hand and give it a small squeeze.
"Have you told anyone else about this, Nino?" Eva's voice was soft, non judgemental. "Now, usually I'd say try talking to her about it. But from what I've seen,she brushes you off, huh?"
"I tried talking to Adrien, but he keeps saying that it'll turn out, that since we really love each other, we'll make it through." Nino glanced at the glass of wine between then, and sighed, putting his head in his hands. Silence hung over them for a long time.
"Now, I don't have a track record of relationships I can give you advice from, but I think you already know what to do, Nino. You don't need me to tell you."
Nino glanced up and smiled at her, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The duo never knowing a certain Italian girl watching them from the lobby.
…
The next morning, Marinette was still grinning as she made her way down to the lobby. She practically skipped her way out of the elevator, her mood slightly lifted more when she saw that some of her classmates were already there, meaning she hadn't been left behind again.
"Good morning, Alix." Marinette grinned as the girl spotted her and headed her way, though her steps faltered slightly when she spotted Kim, Juleka and Rose were headed her way. She tensed, dread clawing its way up her spine as they were upon her. "Oh.. Hello, everyone."
Their expressions were unreadable, before Rose's eyes flooded with tears and she threw herself into Marinette's arms and began to sob. It was then she realized that their expressions were not guilt ridden.
"I'm s- so-o sorr-ry Marinette!" Rose blubbered out, the tears dripping down her sweet face rapidly. Marinette opened her mouth to speak, but found herself speechless.
"We were really stupid, Marinette." Juleka spoke up as she awkwardly rubbed Rose's back, meeting Mari's gaze. Then her voice trembled as when she spoke again. "We were horrible to you, over something that could be easily disproved."
"We all did some very stupid shit." They all glanced over to the elevators, just as Nino stepped into the lobby, his face clouded with shame. "I was the worst, dudette… We've known each other for so long, but… I threw that all away, didn't I?"
"We all should have listened to you, Mari. You'd have no reason to lie, we just all thought it was because if Adrien at first, but then things escalated so fast." Kim muttered, running his fingers through his hair, looking rather distressed.
"Yeah, you all should have listened to me." Marinette finally spoke after a few beats of uncomfortable silence. She gave Rose's back a gentle rub before she stepped away to cross her arms, closing herself off to them. Her expression hardened as she glared at her classmates. "Most of you had known me for years, yet you thought I'd act that way? While I appreciate your apologies, I'm not forgiving any of you. Yet."
Tikki was proud of her Chosen in that moment. Marinette knew she had grown a spine, she wasn't going to be the people pleaser anymore, she had started thinking for herself for once.
"I might, keyword being might, forgive you guys, eventually. But right now, nothing has really proven you guys won't turn on me again. I mean, honestly, look at Alya, Ivan, Mylène, Nathaniel, Max, and Sabrina. They're still lapping it all up, and one of them used to be my best friend! So I'm sorry, but I'm not going to forgive any of you just yet." Marinette shrugged at their slightly crestfallen expressions, ignoring the guilt in her gut. "But you guys actually have some redemption, at least you guys didn't know since the beginning, like Adrien."
The following silence as almost deafening, then Alix grabbed Marinette by the shoulders, her expression murderous. Marinette flinched, feeling her skin bruise under the girl's fierce grip.
"That son of a bitch knew this entire time?" Alix's voice was soft, but deadly, promising whoever would face her fury would taste blood that night. Marinette merely shrugged once again, looking indifferent to the fact.
“He’s known ever since she came back to school. He told me to not expose her, that her lies would expose themselves.” She set her hands on her hips, a cold smile spreading across her face as she met Alix’s eyes. “Well, they’re sure as hell taking their time to expose themselves.”
Alix and the others looked as if they were about to explode, but it was cut off by the arrival of Lila and her court that were still trapped under her spell, while she hung off of Adrien’s arm.
‘Funny,’ Marinette smirked at the ground, raising a brow ‘,for a girl engaged to Damian Wayne, she’s very friendly with other guys.’
“So Damidarling took me to this amazing restaurant, the lobster was absolutely divine!” Lila cooed, while her noticeably smaller court showered her with praises. She soaked it all up, beaing, though her eyes narrowed when she saw the people surrounding Marinette. Marinette could see the girl sharpening her claws as she sneered at them, “Oh, Marinette, how was your date with the intern? I hoped you enjoyed whatever rundown café his salary could afford.”
“I don’t think they even went to a café, they probably ate out of the trash.” Sabrina chuckled, with Alya letting out an amused snort. This was all white noise to Marinette, so she turned away and met Nino’s pained gaze, and it was obvious what he was going to do, once he got up the nerve.
“Good morning, everyone!” Miss Bustier strode in, beaming at her students as they watched as Miss Bourbon followed soon after, looking exhausted and drained. “Now, I know you’re all rather excited to be in a new city, so I thought that since we’re not leaving for Gotham City Park until around lunch time, I made arrangements for us to go to one of the shopping malls, so you all can have a morning of free time.”
Many faces lit up with excitement, and Mari couldn’t deny that the thought was really enticing. She had wanted to see the fashion of Gotham, maybe see if she could get any inspiration for some new designs, maybe something gritty and rock ‘n’ roll for Uncle Jagged.
The class soon arrived at the mall ,Miss Bustier giving them a time and place to meet at so that they could go to their planned picnic.
Marinette wandered off on her own, not wanting to be stuck with listening to Lila and her tales of Damian Wayne. She felt bad for the guy, she’d hate to see him meet Lila at the gala and get taken in by her lies.
“Marinette?” Damian had just stepped out of a store, his eyes widening a fraction, before his face melted into a smile. He strode over to her, carrying a wrapped box under one arm. “Good morning, Angel. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“D-Damian!” Mari’s cheeks burned red and she grinned, stode towards him, letting out a giggle as he pulled her into a hug. “My teacher decided to let us have a free morning. I’m glad she did, now that I got to see you.”
“You’re making me blush, Angel.” Damian’s smile widened, his cheeks going faintly rosy. When Marinette hooked her arm with his, she bit her lower lip when she felt the muscle through the material of his shirt. She felt bad, she was practically ogling him, but it was a physical attraction, right? Something completely natural. “Well, since you’re here, how about I accompany you until you have to leave? Maybe a fun little morning date?”
“I’d love it.” Her heart fluttered, walking with him towards a clothes’ store. She shyly watched him from the corner of her eye as they entered. “I was hoping to see the fashion of Gotham, maybe I could make a new outfit design out of it.”
“You’re into fashion design, right? I mean, last night you said you had designed some stuff for Jagged Stone, right? I looked it all up, you’re really talented, Marinette.” Damian’s voice was warm, gentle. He leaned down, kissing her softly on the cheek. At her look of surprise, he chuckled. “I never got to kiss you back last night, thought I’d return the favour. I hope I didn’t cross a line.”
“No, not at all! I really liked it.” He smelled nice too, whatever his cologne was. Mari pressed her hands to her burning cheeks, trying to calm down the blush, only to nearly run into a mannequin. She squeaked, then took a step back .Her gaze sharpened slightly, and she pulled a sketchbook out of her purse, much to Damian’s surprise. God, she was adorable, with the spark of inspiration that lit up those blue eyes of hers. “Gotham fashion has a lot more dark colours, it’s more elegant, yet practical.”
Damian smiled as he watched her sketch and mutter to herself, feeling himself feel content simply watching her. He had never felt this way around another girl before, he found most girls boring and annoying, as a matter of fact. But Marinette, she was different, he had never had the urge to kiss a girl before, but he found himself want to kiss her until she was breathless, but also to protect her from any harm. But he knew for a fact he shouldn’t rush into anything, that could be a grave mistake, he wanted to know everything about her first.
“Marinette, I see you called your intern boy toy to join you!” Lila stepped from behind a rack, her smile sharp, ferocious, with Alya and Nino close behind. She fluttered her lashes at Damian, smiling prettily. “Wow, Mari, you must be really desperate to get Adrien’s attention if you decided to call an intern here.”
“Mari, girl, this is getting a bit ridiculous. You need to learn that Adrien isn’t interested in you, you need to stop using guys to make him jealous all the time.” Alya rolled her eyes, then returned her gaze to her phone, typing away frantically. Nino scowled at her, but said nothing.
“I know how you must be feeling, Marinette, having both Adrien and Damian Wayne after me, but this jealousy of yours has gone too far.” Lila sneered down, her green eyes glinting with cruel intent. “But I guess a girl like you does deserve an intern, you both kiss ass to get where you want to be.”
“Lila, that’s enough!” Adrien was storming up to the group, roughly shoving Damian away from Marinette, before taking the girl’s arm and pulling her close. “And you, leave Marinette alone! She’s not going to fall for your ploy, pretty boy. I won’t let you hurt her!”
Adrien dragged the protesting Marinette out of the store, Damian and the others close behind. Adrien held Marinette close, then beamed down at her.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone hurt you, ever. That guy won’t make you another notch on his belt, I promise.” Adrien smiled and cupped Mari’s cheek, failing to see the fury flaring in her eyes.
“Adrien, you have crossed a line…” Marinette whispered, fury radiating every from every word. She grabbed the wrist that was near her face tightly, squeezing it so hard that Adrien winced. “I don’t need protection, I am quite capable of taking care of myself, thanks.”
“Marinette, stop hurting Adrien!” Lila screeched, drawing eyes from everyone. She soon burst into crocodile tears, leaning to Alya for support. “Alya, someone, stop her! Her jealousy is getting out of control! I knew she was bitter about me dating a Wayne, but this is too much!”
“You’re not dating Damian Wayne, you little twit.” Damian snapped at Lila, advancing towards Adrien, his green eyes now ice cold. Marinette wrenched free from Adrien’s grip, only to rush to Damian, trembling in his arms as he pulled her close. He met Adrien’s gaze. “You’re Adrien Agreste, correct? I will have to have a talk with my father about having business with your brand in the future…”
“Who the hell do you think you are? I don’t even know you!” Adrien snarled, his hands clenched into fists. That was HIS lady, HIS princess. Every part of him wanted to claw the boy’s eyes out and take Marinette somewhere safe, someplace private. She had been in love with Chat Noir once, she’d definitely love him again.
“Do you not recognize a Wayne when you see one?”
Marinette blinked at the unfamiliar voice, seeing the horror on everyone’s face, then froze as she felt cold steel press against the back of her head.
“Now, which one would be a better target? A Wayne, or his pretty little girlfriend?” Two-Face sneered down at the teens, while his goons had Lila, Alya, and Adrien at gunpoint. He slid a coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air. He caught in one hand, then grinned down at Marinette, then grabbed Damian and held a gun to the boy’s temple. “Rich boy it is. I must say, I’m surprised to see Damian Wayne out in public like this. Your girlfriend must be really special…”
“Damian Wayne?” Mari met Damian’s eyes and felt the blood drain from her face. He was no intern, no… He was Damian fucking Wayne. She would have laughed, if not for the current situation. Her mind racing, her eyes quickly darted around the mall plaza. There was nothing within arm’s reach of her, so she had to deal with her smarts. But first, she had to get everyone else out of here. While Damian was shouting at Two Face, Marinette took the opportunity to tackle the only damned henchman the villain had brought with him, and pinned him to the ground. She looked up and met Alya’s face. “Go, get out of here, now!”
Alya was immediately in gear, grabbing Adrien and Lila’s wrists, taking off towards the exit. Marinette’s relief was short lived when the guy smashed her across the temple, sending her crumpling to the ground.
“Marinette!” Damian shouted and tried to struggle from Two Face’s grip as he watched the blood ooze from his angel’s temple, spilling across the white tile floor.
Tag List:
@realrandomposts @interobanginyourmom @ladybug-182 @ladylb @zalladane @mochinek0 @poshplumcot @urbanpineapplefarmer @vixen-uchiha @angelofmusickaterinapetrova @thewheezingbubbledragon @northernbluetongue @violatiger8 @thequestionablyhuman @ginamarie1512 @maude-zarella @2sunchild2 @saphiraazure2708 @ayuchan07 @virgil-is-a-cutie @thepeacetea
773 notes
·
View notes
Text
Her White Knight
It’s been 87 years... XD
This is a Secret Santa gift for @saijspellhart ! Hope you enjoy the MariBlanc (and that I did it justice) :D
...
Marinette knew this marriage was strictly political. She knew a princess’ job was to marry for the protection or political gain for their kingdom.
Or, in the case of Princess Chloe Bourgeois, her job was trying to pull the wool over her fiancé’s eyes.
In these marriages, it did not matter if the soon-to-be husband would be twice her age, no matter how desperately uncomfortable that made said princess. It had made Chloe uncomfortable, just as it made Marinette uncomfortable. However, unlike Chloe who had the power to manipulate whoever she chose, Marinette didn’t have much of a choice than to suck it up and bear it.
After traveling for days on end, she and her entourage had finally arrived at the castle, her new home. A pit of dread formed in her gut. However, she didn’t have a choice but to smile and march forward to the castle entrance, where several servants were waiting for her but not the man she had been sent to marry.
“Princess Chloe,” one of the men said, stepping forward before bowing before her. “We are so pleased you have arrived safely. Allow us to show you about the castle.”
She agreed, following the man as he led her around the place. It was beautiful, to be sure, but it didn’t make the uneasiness in her gut go away.
Eventually, the tour did come to an end in a meeting room upstairs, where her future husband happened to be. The butler introduced her as she walked into the room, then bowed and left her alone and unchaperoned with the man in front of her.
Her heart was racing so fast with nerves, and it didn’t help that the man silently stared her down with cold eyes and a stony expression.
“I remember your father commenting how chatty you were,” he eventually said.
Had King Andre said as much about Chloe? Marinette took a deep breath, hoping to settle some of the panic rising up in her. “Only with people I know well.”
His eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Marinette thought that he knew. How, she wasn’t sure. He’d never seen Chloe before now, so he wouldn’t know what she looked like. But she felt stripped bare by that cold, calculating gaze of his. And she couldn’t help but feel that if he hadn’t figured her out already, he would soon enough.
Crash!
Marinette whipped around at the sound of the shattered window, her heart pounding in fright. But in the next moment, someone grabbed her hand, yanking her back against them and putting a knife to her throat. She gasped at the sudden touch of a blade along her neck, panic making the world already start to disappear.
“Silence or I’ll kill her.”
The roar in her ears and beating in her chest only increased at the growly voice by her ear.
“Who are you?” King Gabriel asked, seemingly unfazed by the fact a man was about to kill her right before his eyes.
The man scoffed, squeezing her tighter to the point she couldn’t hold back a scared squeak. “Of course you don’t recognize me,” he snarled. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Let’s just say this: Lady Emilie, second daughter of a duke. Do you remember her?”
King Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“No words to say about the woman whose life you ruined?”
Again, no response.
“Pathetic,” he spat in disgust. “So, just like you ruined hers and destroyed mine before you even knew of my existence, I’m here to finally repay the favor.”
The king didn’t even flinch. “And just how does a pathetic, no name bastard plan to do that?”
A growl rose up in the man’s throat as he pressed the knife closer to Marinette’s neck. “Considering you made me a bastard, you know part of my name. But I won’t grace you with my Christian one. However, you’ll want a name to curse when I make your life a living hell. So, from this day forth, you may curse the day Chat Blanc ever came into your life.”
In an instant, the man covered her face with a handkerchief, making it very hard to breathe. With every breath, she inhaled something that was both sweet and sour. A vile mix that made her gut churn.
“Bit by bit, I will destroy all the things you find valuable,” her captor spat, “since I doubt you have the ability to regard anything as precious.”
Her vision was beginning to blur, and her head was beginning to get light.
“And I’ll start with her.”
She tried her best to fight it, but it was no use, she couldn’t get away. Her gut was sinking faster than a stone in water. Was she going to die?
“And you think you’ll get away with this in my castle?” King Gabriel challenged.
The last thing Marinette heard before the world turned black was the man behind her chuckling, a dark, terrifying sound. “Watch me.”
…
Back at his hideaway, Adrien pulled the unconscious girl off the saddle, cradling her carefully in his arms as he marched towards his hideaway house. Marinette. The one love of his life. He’d been on his way to deliver his warning to King Gabriel when he saw her step out of the carriage.
He’d had to do a double take because, at first, he knew that couldn’t have been her. She wasn’t a princess. Yet, the resemblance was uncanny. So, he stalked her as she was shown around the castle. And the more he saw, the more convinced he was that this was his precious Marinette. How she had ended up in that position, he had no clue, but he was bound and determined to get her out of it.
So as much as he hated to scare her as he had, holding a knife to her throat and kidnapping her, he hadn’t had much of a choice.
The small house on the corner of his late mother’s family’s property only had a single room and a single bed. He laid the still unconscious Marinette on it before starting up a fire in the fire place. Fall was in full swing, and the nights were growing colder. Adrien was fine with it being a little chilly, but he wanted Marinette to be comfortable. She never did like the cold.
Once that was complete, he pulled some blankets over her. Once that was settled, he left to put his horse away properly. Hopefully, he’d return to her side before she woke up. He’d already scared her once; he didn’t want her to awake only to panic without him there to explain everything.
…
When Marinette awoke, she felt sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes tightly, fighting against the swirling in her stomach. Her head was spinning, too, making her want to do nothing but fall back asleep.
But… hadn’t something happened? She wasn’t in her own bed at her own home. Something had smelled funny…
She tried to force herself to open her eyes, only for them to slam shut when the light was too much.
“Shh.”
Long, lazy circles were being drawn on her back soothing her, coaxing her back into sleep.
“You don’t have to force yourself up,” a calm, sweet voice said. “Rest.”
And she nearly did just that. Until her mind started putting things together. Like the fact she didn’t recognize the voice. Or that she realized that she’d been traveling to meet the man that would become her husband.
Or that she’d been kidnapped.
Groggily, she opened her eyes, blinking them several times in order to focus them. She caught sight of a person sitting beside her on the bed, rubbing her back and shoulders.
“You’re awake?” the gentle voice asked. “Don’t force yourself. Sleep if you want.”
She looked up at the man’s face, spying a mess of blonde hair and a sweet smile paired with a gentle gaze. He looked so familiar. So… familiar…
“Adrien?” Her voice was dry and raspy, but it was enough for that smile to brighten even further.
“You know, when we parted and you told me that I was welcome to abscond with you when I was able to, this was not how I pictured it going.”
Her mind processed his words, taking a moment to fully register in her head. She scoffed, though she couldn’t resist smiling. “I didn’t mean it literally.”
He chuckled, reaching for a pitcher that was on the bedside table. He poured her a cup while she struggled to sit up. He helped her the rest of the way before offering her the cup. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to drug you. I know that it can leave your throat dry.”
She took the cup and drank, only getting half of it down before her stomach protested her drinking any more. She set it down on the table by the bed.
“But you couldn’t imagine my surprise when the ‘princess’ showed up,” he continued. “And all I saw… was the woman I had sworn I would marry walking up to be the king’s bride. So, if you wouldn’t mind, I’m desperate to hear an explanation.”
The soft look in his eyes had shifted, a blazing fire in them now. That smile was gone, along with any gentleness in his expression. But it didn’t worry her. After having grown up with this man, after having fallen in love with him, she knew that any anger inside him was not aimed at her. She also knew how to calm him down.
Actually, as far as she knew, she might be the only one who’s ever succeeded in calming him down. “You remember that we parted because I was one of the maids sent with your aunt when she happened to marry into the royal family of the closest kingdom.”
He nodded. “I never understood why you had to go,” he said with a snarl.
“I never did, either, but I couldn’t exactly protest.”
“You should have let me abscond with you then.”
“Adrien,” she cooed, taking his jaw in her hands. Instantly, she felt him melt into her touch. “You knew why I couldn’t let you do that. You were still in training to become a royal knight, and you did not need any distraction of me being your wife at that time.”
“I could have made it work.”
“Just because you could have didn’t mean you should have.”
“But then you wouldn’t have left!” he protested. “And you could have stayed put where I could have kept an eye on you, and you wouldn’t—”
“Adrien,” she gently interrupted, cutting off his impassioned rant. She rubbed his cheeks with her thumbs, hoping to calm him down some more. Slowly, he relaxed back into her hands. “Be reasonable.”
“I am,” he muttered.
“No, you’re not, and you know it.”
His gaze fell away as he let loose a frustrated growl.
She chuckled. “It wasn’t ideal, but us parting the way we did was better than me agreeing to your impulsive marriage proposal.”
“How is three years of torture better than—”
“Because it would have put more stress on both of us, and you know it.”
“But—”
“Adrien.”
He pouted.
Marinette grinned, rubbing her thumbs in soothing circles on his cheeks again. “Always so impulsive,” she affectionately murmured.
He grunted but didn’t protest.
With a sigh, she continued her story. “As for why I ended up pretending to be a princess, well… it certainly wasn’t my idea.”
“Never would have guessed,” he sarcastically spat.
“I had a man I wanted to marry already,” she said, leaning her face closer to his. “I didn’t want to marry a king twice my age. But on that same note, neither did Princess Chloe. When her father told her that she was to marry King Gabriel, she refused. Then she was the one who came up with the idea to send someone as a replacement for her.”
“And that someone was you?”
Marinette cringed. “Princess Chloe hated me from the moment I came to the castle. She was probably thrilled to put this task on me.”
Adrien growled, sliding even closer to her so he could pull her into his arms.
The suddenness of his actions shocked her, but soon enough, she was melting into his embrace. And after a moment of just sitting there in his arms, she started crying, clinging to his shirt as though her life depended on it. When was the last time she’d held him? Three years? She’d been fifteen when she’d been forced to separate from him. Now, she was a fully-grown woman.
No matter how it was put, she hadn’t held him for far too long, especially considering that she’d loved him more than anything. And still did.
He clung to her, too. His own body wracking as he teared up, too. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she returned tearfully. She hadn’t realized just how much until now when she was finally back in his arms.
And he didn’t seem too keen on letting her go.
That was fine by her.
After a little while of just holding him and being held, she couldn’t help but ask the question that had been nagging her. “Adrien.”
“Hmm?”
“You… you basically kidnapped me from the castle.”
“Yes.”
“Why? I mean… I understand why you pulled me away but… couldn’t you have taken me another way? You’re a member of the royal knights, aren’t you?”
Adrien tensed in her arms, slowly pulling away.
Which only caused her to worry. “Adrien?”
“I’m not part of the royal knights any longer.”
Marinette’s eyes widened. “What? What do you mean?”
Adrien sighed but didn’t speak.
Marinette’s brow furrowed in worry.
“A lot of things happened when you left,” he eventually answered. “Including me growing tired of my status as a bastard child.” When he looked to her again, his gaze was icy cold and rock hard. There was no warmth in them at all. “It never leaves you, you know. It’s like bearing the devil’s mark. Once people find out, they mark you as the lowest of the low.”
Her heart broke at his words, ones woven with anger and bitterness.
“Mother always told me to ignore them. And so did you. You… you were the only person that actually treated me like a normal human. Not like a disgrace.”
“I’ve said it once,” she said, reaching out to cradle his cheek again, and he happily leaned into her touch, “And I’ll say it again: the fact that you were born out of wedlock is not your fault. It’s not fair for you to be saddled with that derogatory title.”
His eyes softened for a moment. “I wanted to believe you when you said that you weren’t the only one who believed that, but… that was my mistake.”
Something painful clenched in her gut. “Adrien—”
“I got more injuries from my teachers and squad-mates than in training or in combat.”
It felt like she’d just been hit in the chest because the air in her lungs disappeared in an instant. “Oh, Adrien.”
“And then my father—no, the man who sired me…”
Marinette blinked. “Your father—”
“He doesn’t deserve the term!” he snapped.
“Sorry, sorry,” she appeased. “I just… I didn’t know that you learned who he was. Your mom never told you, even though it was clear she knew.”
“He wanted her as his lover, then abandoned her when she was pregnant with me.” He growled. “But what did he expect to happen?” he shouted angrily. “Sleep with a healthy woman long enough and of course she’ll bear a child! He’s not innocent here. How dare he leave my mother to fend for herself!”
Marinette knew there was no breaking into his ranting. She could only hold his cheeks in her hands, drawing him forward enough to rest her forehead on his. She felt some of the tension leave his body.
“He could have married her,” he said, voice now weak. “Should have married her. Why did he leave us?”
His broken words wrecked Marinette’s heart. “I don’t know,” she said. “Only he knows that.”
Slowly, in that moment of silence, the words he’d spat at the king before he’d kidnapped her came back to mind. “Adrien. Your father… is he—?”
“The king?” he finished. “Yes. And no one I worked for or trained with insulted me more than him.”
“So, when you said you were going to strip him of everything…?”
His eyes locked on her. “It’s not just because he was cruel to me,” he clarified. “You know the state of the kingdom. It hasn’t changed since you left.”
She frowned. Yes, she did know the state of the kingdom. It was in a rough place for the common folk.
“His harassment was just the final straw,” Adrien finished. He then pulled away and his eyes grew hard. “And you won’t stop me, Marinette. I’ve made up my mind on this. I will see it through to completion.”
As she looked into those green eyes of his, she saw the fire blazing within them. She wasn’t sure how much she should push, or even if she could. “I’m just… hesitant.”
“You’re not the one making this decision, so whether your hesitant or not doesn’t matter.”
“For your safety.”
He scoffed, his smile bitter. “I’m a knight. My safety was never guaranteed.”
“It’s worse now.”
She was glad that bitter smirk fell away. “It doesn’t matter. What has to be done has to be done.”
She bit her lip, unsure just what she could say.
He glared at her. “Marinette, I know that look in your eyes.” He then took her chin, in his hands so ensure she couldn’t turn her gaze away from his. “There is nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise.”
“So I’m expected to just roll over as you impulsively—”
“It’s not impulsive,” he curtly interrupted. “Not this time. I’ve thought this out. I’ve planned it. I’m just doing what has to be done. For the sake of this kingdom, and that is overthrowing the current king.”
She sighed as she listened to his impassioned rant, unsure of what to say. “And you’ll take over for him, I assume.”
There was a flash of something in Adrien’s eyes, something that left them duller than before, like he’d cut off his soul from her. And that’s when she realized, that flash had been hurt. “Don’t you dare think I’m petty enough to try to take his throne for selfish reasons.”
“Oh, no, no,” she quickly assured, realizing just how her words had been misinterpreted. “I’m not. Not for a second. That’s not like you.”
“The fact I’m related to him by blood is of no matter to me,” he continued. “I’m doing this for the betterment of the kingdom, not because I care for the throne.”
“I know,” she promised, taking hold of his hands and squeezing them tightly. “I know you. I know that you’re not like that. I’m just worried for you and all the weight you’re shouldering.”
That fiercely cold gaze of his warmed, as though an ice had thawed out. Seems she navigated the hurt she’d inadvertently given him. “Trust me, Marinette. I have to do this. For you and me and everyone else in the kingdom.”
“Okay,” she relented. “Okay.”
…
Three days, she’d been living with Adrien in this small little house. She recognized it as the house on the corner of his mother’s parents’ property. After all, he did abscond with her here once before and almost convince her to stay with him.
He’d also kissed her more heavily that night than he ever had before.
Blushing hard, she shook her head to try to rid herself of the memory. Thankfully, he wasn’t here to catch her embarrassment. He was out again at the moment. There was a pattern during the day where he left for hours at a time, always returning before dinner but never telling her what he was up to, claiming it was for her safety. He admitted to talking to friends—that she assumed meant comrades or people he was working with, at least; she severely doubted he was doing all this alone—or writing letters, but that was all he divulged.
Everything about the two of them seemed new and fresh, like she was navigating a whole different relationship as opposed to the one they were in three years ago.
But then again, they weren’t the people they were three years ago.
That didn’t mean she loved him less. Every day they spent together reminded her more and more of just why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. Now, she just loved him differently from the way she did back then. Three days was enough to prove that he was still Adrien at his core, but unfortunately, as she’d learned, he was shattered. He’d always had a wild, reckless, impulsive edge to him. It was one of the things she’d loved about him. She’d nick-named him Chat Noir because of it, because he was like a cat: curious and always getting into trouble. He’d embraced the name, but only after she agreed to be his Lucky Ladybug.
But now… Chat Blanc…
She learned he called himself that because he was ready to wipe clean the slate of this kingdom and start over. He wanted nothing more than to overthrow the corrupt king and all the black-hearted soldiers who had done nothing but harass and abuse him. Abuse that had turned him from the boy she’d once known to a man who was crafty and calculating and constantly skeptical.
She couldn’t help but wonder if she could have stopped his transformation, but she couldn’t turn back time, meaning all she could do was to be here for him. And it worked, too. She noticed that no matter what feral state he marched into the house in, a touch from her could take the edge off the wild look in his eye.
The door opened, and Marinette spun around to face him. His posture was rigid, his shoulders set square, and his mouth tugged into a frown, just as he usually was when he returned from being out all day. So, just as she usually did, she shot him a smile. “Welcome home,” she whispered as she reached out to embrace him.
Instantly, he melted into her touch, practically collapsing against her before he had the good sense to embrace her back. “I love you,” he mumbled into her shoulder.
“And I love you,” she quietly returned.
This only caused him to grab on to her tighter, like she was his lifeline and he was a dying man clinging to it. It only made him worry for him more.
“Are you doing okay?” she asked, stroking his hair soothingly.
“I have you with me,” he said. “That’s all that matters.”
She felt her cheeks warm at his admission.
“One day, I’ll make you a queen,” he said. “And I’ll give you the world.”
“I don’t need the world,” she countered. “I just want you.”
“But I want to give you everything,” he said, his body tensing as he stressed his point. “You deserve it.”
She scoffed. “I don’t deserve—”
“Yes, you do,” he quickly interrupted. “You very much do.”
She sighed. “Adrien, just be careful in the process. I much prefer to have you in one piece than you tearing yourself to pieces in order to give me something. You are the treasure. Not anything else.”
His arms tightened around her, but she barely noticed, not when his lips found the spot where her neck met her shoulders. She gasped in surprise as he laid a long, lingering kiss there. “And that’s why I’ll give you everything,” he whispered against her skin, making her shiver. He then pulled away just so that he could see her face, but his embrace never loosened. “Because no one else thinks of me as highly as you do. So mark my words, I will make you a queen. All you have to do is marry me.”
Her heart was pounding at his previous action, but her mind was still lucid enough to process his words. This again. Ever since she came, he’d been begging for her to marry him. She’d always paused him with a “Are you sure this is good timing, Adrien?”, uncertain about a lot of things. They’d only just reunited and he had so much to deal with at the moment, but she could see it wasn’t stopping him from repeatedly asking for her hand. “Why are you so insistent?”
His eyes narrowed, the green orbs growing cold. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
“Because you have a lot on your plate right now.”
He shrugged. “Marry now, marry later; what difference does it make? I severely doubt there will be a time where I think I don’t want to marry you, so why not now?”
She sighed. “You’ve always been persistent.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” he challenged. “I love you, Marinette. I always have and always will. I want to be able to come home to you as my wife. Is that too much to ask?”
After a moment of thought, she shook her head. It came as no surprise to her why he was so persistent on the marriage issue: he was born out of wedlock, after all. She remembered that first night that he’d kissed her so heavily back when they were young that she was worried about how much he wanted of her, particularly since she felt terrified to give him everything. But he had assured her that he wouldn’t. Out of respect for her, of course, but he also said he would never take the risk of making a child out of wedlock. “I’ll never saddle my own children with the derogatory title I’m damned to carry.”
“Why do you want me so badly?” she asked. “That you’re so impatient to wait.”
His eyes darkened, a look he’d only had once before as far as she remembered. Her gut spun itself into knots instantly at the raw desire swimming in them. “I want you as my wife,” he said. “That does not change. You’re my greatest treasure, and I want to protect and provide for you. I want to give you the world. But…” He leaned forward so as to press a kiss to her forehead. She felt his nose rest on the crown of her head, not pulling away. “I am a man who currently happens to be living with a very beautiful woman who I love and adore with every ounce of my being. And my self-control is weaning.”
Blood positively rushed to her face. “Uhh…” Her voice had gotten very high pitched. “You… You want… me…” She couldn’t help it. Instantly, she buried her face in his neck.
He chuckled. “I’ll always respect your boundaries,” he purred, gently stroking her hair. “Trust me that much, but I want… want to know I’m allowed to touch you and hold you and kiss you freely and unrestrained. And eventually, when you’re ready, claim you as mine.”
His words shot jitters through her. And not bad ones, either. “Adrien…”
“But, in the end—” He forced her out of her hiding spot against his chest. “—I do want you as my wife, and all that entails. Not just the physical intimacy of it.” Again, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, then began a trail down her temple to her cheek. “So please, Marinette, be my wife.”
Her heart was racing wildly and her stomach was in knots she wasn’t sure would ever come untangled. He continued his ministrations, gently peppering her face with kisses.
And then when he pulled away to look her in the eye, her heart nearly shattered at his earnest expression. His eyes wide and raw, allowing her to see his soul within, past all the anger and pain he bore. One of a little boy who just wanted affection. Wanted someone to care for him. And she…
She had always wanted to be that person for him.
“Okay.”
His eyes lit up in excitement. “Is that a yes?”
She smiled, her heart thumping in her chest and butterflies flapping excitedly around in her stomach. “Yes.”
Instantly, he smashed his lips against hers, kissing them over and over and over again. Time seemed to stop as reality faded away, leaving only him and her together. Her knees were two steps from giving out on her as he stole her breath straight out of her chest time and time again.
How odd that when she was fifteen, this level of physical affection had her on edge, but now, it excited her to her very core.
Before she lost herself completely in the haze of bliss, brought on by his unending barrage of kisses to her lips and cheeks and neck, an assault that wouldn’t end even after he shoved her up against the nearest wall and began running his hands up and down her sides, she couldn’t help but think that the joy on his face that appeared the moment she’d said yes reminded her of the dorky kid she’d once known. The one she’d fallen in love with in the first place. He actually looked… happy.
I want to see you happy again, she thought as their session continued, Adrien flat out picking her up and carrying her to the bed, just like that time three years ago, only to continue pressing marks on the skin of her neck and collarbone. I want to see you as that curious Chat Noir and his bright, boisterous smile again. And if that means standing by Chat Blanc’s side for now and weathering through all the pain and suffering and anger, fighting it off with you, then I’ll gladly do it. Because more than anything,
I love you.
#miraculous ladybug#fanfiction#marinette dupain cheng#chat blanc#mariblanc#romance#medieval au#secret santa gift
408 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
wxire-0
jody
abcbusinessconsultant
Arab Business Consultant
akaida
AKAIDA
clairetherose
[Azerothian Mox Diamond]
castaspell
Cast a Spell